CSEC exposes the need for compulsory reading

Aug 24, 2010 Editorial

President’s College came into existence in 1985 having been established as the School of Excellence. Top performances at what was then the Common Entrance were the first choices. Many parents opted for Queen’s College with its reputation dating back to August 15, 1844, when it first opened its doors.
That Queen’s College was the obvious choice was because over the years the school produced the crème de la crème of the society. Every leading official had passed through its doors and this reputation continues to this day. Three of our presidents were students of the school—Forbes Burnham, Dr.Cheddi Jagan and Samuel Hinds.
However, President’s College was still the school that the then government wanted to be the institution to produce the rounded people that the administration felt that the society needed.
The new administration changed all that and reduced President’s College to nothing more than a boarding school to cater for children who did well at the examinations that determine entrance to secondary schools.
When questioned about the status of the school earlier this year, Education Minister Shaik Baksh said that the school was never considered among the top five. He then proceeded to list Queen’s College, Bishops’ High, Saint Stanislaus College, St Joseph High and St Rose’s.
Many who have been involved in the education system expressed shock. There were a few letters of consternation in the media and some enterprising reporters took to canvassing views about this pronouncement.
As can be expected in Guyana, precious little occurs when the initial anger flares. People resort to their daily conundrum until some other distraction emerges. That distraction has come in the form of another pronouncement by the Education Minister.
He notes that as a school, when overall performances in the recently released Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) are considered, President’s College was the second best performer. It followed Bishops’ High. He was at pains to point out that though the two top performers came from Queen’s College, these two schools actually performed better overall.
This may be a rather superficial analysis since one needs to take the number of subjects written, analyse the number of grade one passes, followed by the grade two and then grade three passes before one can arrive at a definitive conclusion.
One may find that a particular school may have recorded a higher percentage of students passing the examinations given the smaller number that wrote the exams. One hundred students of a school each writing five subjects may all secure Grade One to Grade Three passes for a 100 per cent pass record for that school.
On the other hand of 100 students writing 13 subjects and more, 90 may earn five or more passes for a 90 per cent pass rate. The top school would be the one that offers the largest number of subject areas.
Nevertheless, using the yardstick adopted by the Education Ministry, President’s College has done exceedingly well. One is left to understand the reason for its demotion.
But there is another fact that keeps repeating itself each year. Children of the poor are falling off the radar.
All of the top performers are from relatively affluent households, something that suggests a direct correlation between money and academic results. The average performers are from among the less affluent homes.
There has been no analysis of children from very poor homes but there has been the observation that those children are most likely not among the students who read naturally, or whose parents would motivate them to do better and to be competitive.
It is a known fact that reading in Guyana is on the decline although the increase in electronic devices and the burgeoning test messaging industry demands some literacy. Perhaps the level of readership skills is different.

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