Latest update May 14th, 2026 12:35 AM
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HEAVY EDUCATION
With Carifesta fever in the air, some of the excitement that normally accompanies the announcement of the annual results of the CSEC and CAPE Examinations might have been somewhat dulled for those not directly affected this year.
But, once again, we had some incredible results, with the top students passing some fifteen subjects each – most of them with Grade ones. By any measure this is quite an accomplishment, and the successful students have to be commended for their feat.
But the question has to be asked, “Towards what end?” We were recently informed by the Minister of Education that his ministry has just drafted a five-year strategic plan for education, and we hope that it contains guidelines for the optimum number of subjects that a student ought to be pursuing in our school system.
While it is possible that only a few high-flyers in any one school attempt double-digit numbers of subjects at the examination level – and the results routinely report that only a handful achieve them – the visual evidence suggests otherwise. We are referring to the modern phenomenon in Guyana of school children proceeding to and from school with their backs literally bent –not with age, but with the weights of their backpacks.
If the required number of subjects is not in the double digits, then the number of books per subject certainly has to make up the deficit, in order to inflict such a burden on the poor schoolchildren. With only a week to go until the new school year begins, and with parents engaged in their annual mad rush to secure school supplies, including the now obligatory heavy-duty backpack – maybe we ought to spare a thought for the weighty matter of the number of books we inflict on our young nowadays.
Firstly, we must start by accepting that we send our children to school to imbibe moral and academic training, not to become beasts of burden. The backbreaking load begins as early as grade one, and one has to wonder what, in addition to the books, is the child required to cart to school?
The load has to be a disincentive to our young ones as to what “learning” demands. One suspects that the focus on rote learning, which has now become entrenched in our school system, may be one of the causes of the ‘heavy education,’ since that approach demands copious texts and copies from which the student crams.
Secondly, the enormous weight has to affect the child’s physical health. As the child staggers towards school, s/he would find it impossible to maintain the concentration to walk in a straight line, since the mind has to be focused inevitably on the bulging bag pulling on his/her shoulders.
Later, s/he cannot even sit at the school desk properly, on account of the extra large backpack taking most of the space, but is also required to accommodate a heap of books and copies. Taking care of the load lying beside him/her sometimes even impinges on his/her level of attentiveness during class.
Then there are the physical effects – not just the creation of a generation that appears to be in a permanent subservient and supplicating pose – but the inevitable personal deleterious impact on bones not perfectly formed at that tender age.
Small children, having to constantly carry the heavy burden of loaded backpacks, develop various physical disorders, like neck and shoulder pain, not to forget the strain on the spinal cord.
It would be interesting if the Ministry of Education were to collaborate with the Ministry of Health to conduct a survey of the effects of backpacks on the schoolchildren of Guyana. Most likely, the Ministry of Human Services and the Child Welfare Department would have to be called in.
We have been informed that the theme for Education Month (September) this year will be ‘Education of the Child: parents’ and teachers’ obligation’. Parents, who all are aware of the detrimental effects of the load that is literally placed on the backs of their children to obtain an “education”, have an obligation to make their concerns known to the educators.
The future of a child in a developing country such as ours has enough uncertainties without us placing unnecessary burdens on their backs.
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