SCHOOL’S UP

Jul 12, 2009 Features / Columnists, Ravi Dev

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With my son performing rather credibly at the last National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) – 4th overall – following the lead of his sister (1st in 2006), quite a few persons have asked me, “What’s the secret?” So I thought that I would use this week’s article to offer my take on primary education in Guyana using my kids’ experience and my own as illustration.
Actually the “secret” is simple – getting back to the basics that my grandparents who raised me (and who have never attended school) drilled into me. Firstly, their generation was committed to education as the means to rise out of the dire straits experienced on the sugar plantations. While in absolute terms our conditions might have improved since then, relative to most other countries we’re still lagging. The good news, however, is that education still offers a way out – and we have the authority of all the development economists and the experience of those countries that have leapfrogged us to confirm the wisdom of our grandparents.

Parents have to be committed to education. It never ceases to amaze me after I returned to live in the villages that people can plead “poverty” as a reason why their children do not have an education, even though they can find the money for rum, fancy clothes and the unending stream of foreign Chutney artistes. School, after all, is still free – and there is even a program to provide school uniforms to those that are actually poor.
The second basic is reading. While my grandfather, as the son of an immigrant could not attend the village school, he was taught Hindi in the mandir classes and read voraciously in this language. Books were all around the house and it was this environment that I replicated for my children. They both began to read at a very early age and one had to just make sure that they had books they enjoyed. It didn’t matter what types of books. While a decade ago obtaining books might have been a problem, this is no longer the case. There are bookstores – used and new – sufficiently spread around to supply reading materials for those that are seeking them.

There is no question that there is a need for more libraries – especially in the rural areas – but parents have to become involved and initiate such ventures either by pushing the authorities or doing it on their own. Many primary schools – such as Leonora Primary where my children attended – now have libraries and the Ministry must insist that a library/reading period becomes part of the curriculum.
With two older children that passed through the American educational system, I can say with some conviction that our primary school curriculum is second to none. One major problem, however, is the presentation of the material. In a word, our textbooks are dull. Deadly dull. They can be a turnoff to most children, including my own. They received some American textbooks during their primary grades – either as prizes or as gifts – and it was amazing to see them devouring them as greedily as their Harry Potters. We must find funds to liven up our textbooks. My wife fortunately was a former teacher and we integrated what the children were being taught in school with their everyday lives to show them that “schoolwork” could be relevant and even fun.

I have emphasised the home environment and dealt with it right up front because I do believe that it is the major difference between the good and poor performers in our primary schools. And parents are the only ones that can contribute positively to reduce that difference. The schools, of course, are the other major factor. When my daughter was ready for school I enrolled her in the local village primary school that was only two blocks away. Unfortunately, she encountered several problems there that in my estimation all stemmed from a refusal by the teachers to accept that their charges could perform at a much higher level than they were required. After several discussions with the Headteacher, I concluded that the problem emanated from the top: all I could elicit were a litany of “problems” with nary a thought spared with what could be done at the local level to resolve some of those problems.

Since I had an office in Leonora, the Regional Education Officer approved a transfer of my daughter to Leonora Primary, which had a very high reputation since I was a boy. It was amazing what the change of school did for my daughter’s performance: she blossomed under the tutelage (one could say “care”) of a series of wonderful teachers. My son was to have the same experience. And from what I could see, it all started at the top. The headmaster was an extremely hands-on person who spent as much time in the classes as in his office. Inheriting a school that was known for exemplary standards, he insisted on burnishing those standards. And the results speak for themselves.
One technique that I thought initially was quite “corny” but turned out to be most effective in motivating the children was a series of gestures to recognise good work in school: “student of the month” badges presented before the entire assembly; handclaps for correct answers; “very exceptional student” badges; the prefect system; children involved in setting their own homework level in the sixth grade etc. Participation in the cultural shows was also a big positive at Leonora.

There was the vexed problem of “lessons” – which my children did not take until sixth grade. Because of the nature of the examination, which consists primarily of a multiple choice segment that parses the curriculum to an extremely sophisticated level (I was often stumped by questions even in Science – in which I had done my ‘A’ Levels) I do not believe that the two terms that are allocated towards completing the sixth grade curriculum are sufficient. However, if one structures the children’s time properly, there is rarely any need for the late hours I hear about. Both my children rarely went beyond 8 p.m. on any given night. There will have to be some tinkering with the overall package if we want to eliminate “lessons”.
The point I would like to emphasise is that if parents recommit themselves to the importance of education and the Ministry motivates the heads of the primary schools, it is my firm belief that all our children can better fulfil the potential that lies within all of them.

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