CXC Registrar calls for educational reforms

Aug 17, 2012 News

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… lauds Manickchand’s improvement programme

The Education System was likened to the eco-system yesterday by the Caribbean Examination Council’s (CXC) Registrar, Dr. Didacus Jules, at a forum to ceremoniously hand over the 2012 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate Examination and CAPE Results to Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand.

Venued at the Guyana International Conference Centre, this is the first year that the auspicious event has been held in Guyana.
In presenting remarks to the gathering of mainly education stakeholders, Dr. Jules said that “we are meeting at a time of crisis” even as he pointed out that the Region is currently at a historical juncture where education needs to be redefined.  According to him “we need whole systems reform because tinkering with education can no longer work. We need to change our whole conception of what this education system is…it is like an eco-system – everything else is inter-dependent and inter-related to everything else.”
He categorically asserted that “we cannot expect that students will perform at university if they have not performed at secondary level; we cannot expect good performance at secondary level if primary level, which is the level that contributes to secondary is weak…we cannot expect them to do good at primary if early childhood is non-existent…”
Dr. Jules pointed out that the picture that has been painted of this year’s results reveals a general decline in overall performance which points to foundational weaknesses in English and Mathematics. “What we have to understand is that if core literacies are weak, basic capacities are affected. So if I am not able to read properly and to understand and to express myself properly how then can I have a platform on which to tackle every other subject?”
He said that literacy, numeracy and Information Technology are now considered the foundational literacies of life in the 21st Century.
“…People are getting hot and frenzy over the Mathematics results…these results didn’t happen overnight! We have always had a challenge with English too although there was always a trend of improvement in the last two years that has now taken a dip. And what is the solution to that? Not the blame game that some of us are seeking to undertake. The solution to that is to understand what do we need to do to get beyond this?”
He noted though that an historical condition does not necessarily have to be a permanent condition which is in fact the challenge that is being faced. He made this assertion even as he showcased graphs which indicated the dramatic performance gap between the period 2010 through 2012 stressing that “we have a long way to go to bridge that gap. What is needed? Less lamentation and more decisive action! The blame game is not going to solve anything…” he confidently asserted.
According to Dr. Jules, the move to blame teachers, ministers or whoever can be easily reached to blame, is a development that “is not going to change that empirical reality one iota. What is going to change it is (for us) to buckle down and do the things that need to be done.”
Policymakers of the Region, he said, have a huge challenge on their hand even as he revealed that these are difficult economic times. “…the worse things get economically, the more important education becomes as a way of getting us through these challenges.”
In recognising that there are no “quick fixes” to the existing challenge, the CXC Registrar noted that there are shortened gains that are possible. He explained that there are investments that can be made to help remedy the situation. It was at this point that he turned his attention to Minister Manickchand’s ambitious four-month long programme which was introduced last year to improve CSEC performances at just over 20 pilot schools locally.
Through a government allocation of just over $85M, the local Education Ministry was able to procure materials to aid students’ participating in the 2012 examinations.
Dr. Jules commended the efforts of the Minister who since assuming office, pointed out that CXC has made it its business to monitor education activities in all territories it operates and had taken keen note of what was occurring in Guyana. “Textbooks and technical materials, geometry sets, science kits and so on …these things are vitally necessary…but they are not the whole and entire solution but these are some of the measures that we should and can put in place immediately to get some short-term gains.”
He alluded to the fact that the pooling of resources can make a huge difference, stressing that “too often as a people we overlook our own strengths and possibilities and look outward for solutions when we have the answers in here.”
He explained that CXC as an examination board is different from every other board operating in the Region. He believed that there is currently a need for a paradigm shift and move to recognise what can be done to realise the desired improvements.

Pic name Dr Jules
Caption: CXC Registrar, Dr. Didacus Jules

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