The education debacle

Nov 20, 2010 Editorial

There is turmoil in the education system because of a decision to face reality as far as children wishing to write external examinations are concerned. This decision has implications for the state which helps fund children writing the examinations and for those parents who simply submit their children for the examinations because at a certain age every child is expected to write an external examination.
Indeed, there was a time when Guyana recognized the capability of each child and the very education system allowed them to enter streams best suited to their ability. As a result of this decision the system accommodated community high schools and multilateral schools.
Those who were technically inclined went into the multilateral stream where the focus was more on technical education as opposed to the other schools where the focus was on academic education. Indeed, some of the regular schools had technical departments in the event that there were those children who later in their school life, found that they would have been better suited for a technical education.
There must have been something wrong because that programme simply went through the window because it appeared to be halted. There is the suggestion that the paucity of technical education teachers may have been responsible. Whatever the case, both the academically inclined and the academically challenged have been pursuing the same courses and writing the same examinations.
At the same time the number of people described as functional literates began to rise. This is a sore point because we are convinced that this increasing level in the number of illiterates and barely literates is responsible for the growing crime rate countrywide.
The administrators of the education system must have recognized what people knew, that Guyana schools do not need to record the low grades, that some people who did not have a ghost of a chance at passing were being entered for the examinations. And this was being done at a cost to the nation because the government subsidises those who sit the examinations.
The subsidy runs into millions of dollars that could be better spent and after a few years the government must have come to this realization. Two years ago it introduced a Grade Nine examination—a local event. This is used as the gauge to assess the ability of the student to write the various subjects. Those who fail a certain subject would not be allowed to write it through the school when the external examinations come around.
The schools must have been reluctant to effect the decision because up until recently everyone was in the same class pursuing the same subject areas whether they were capable of coping or not. Any educator would know that those who cannot learn would serve as a distraction for the others more capable.
These children are now finding out that they cannot be in the classroom if they are not qualified to be there. And it is here that parents have a worry. If a child is idle then there are problems. And we know that parents are not too keen to supervise their own children.
Needless to say, the parents are up in arms but the schools are equally adamant that the child can write the examinations privately. There is no consideration on the part of the school for the tutoring.
But for some time now we have been calling on parents to monitor the children, a call that seems to be falling on deaf ears. If a child performs poorly at one school the parents simply send them to another. The schools are the surrogate parents.
Some parents have taken the schools to task for foisting the children on the home. And given the conditions, this attitude could be understood. The society has not created enough opportunities for these students to seek an alternative course of skills development.
But then again, not too many parents set store by technical education, preferring instead to see their children as office assistants and the like in offices. The Education Ministry has its work cut out and with each passing day, things are not becoming easier.