A national discourse on education is needed

Aug 18, 2013 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

By Breeanka West and Cynthia Rutherford,
AFC Youth Members
The Alliance for Change (AFC) wishes to congratulate the top performers at the 2013 sittings of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
The AFC acknowledges and commends their hard work and that of their parents, teachers and other tutors; it has paid off. It is important to note that while you have completed one journey, it is also only the beginning of another, as some of you may embark upon the world of work and others, the advancement of your education.
The AFC also extends congratulations to those students who sat the respective examinations and weren’t in the top bracket. As former U.S. President Ronald Reagan once said, “Education is not the means of showing people how to get what they want. Education is an exercise by means of which enough men, it is hoped, will learn to want what is worth having”.
With that being said, we encourage you to continue to pursue your education, as education is important for the development of one’s self, family, nation and also the alleviation of poverty.
While we congratulate our students, the AFC is concerned and would like to know how many students did not gain at least six passes. We are very concerned about the Math and English grades which are the core subjects. Passes for English A were recorded at 45.69 percent marking an increase compared to last year’s 37.02 percent, while passes for Mathematics were recorded at 28.92 percent representing a decrease from last year’s 29.69 percent pass rate.
These show need for improvement. Much emphasis needs to be placed on Mathematics, with attention being focused on what might be the issues causing the decline in pass rate; whether it is teaching techniques, available resources or environment, since without knowing the cause of the problem, no remedy can be sought.
We at the AFC see this as just another hurdle, that when we work together, can be overcome, paving the way for a brighter future and a better Guyana.
Another famous U.S. President John F Kennedy once said “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.”
We, the AFC, strongly believe that the young people are the nation’s most valuable resource and as such more can be and must be done to address the aforementioned steady decline of passes in Mathematics. The youths of Guyana deserve the best education the country has to offer and that means educators need to get together around the table to determine what needs to be done and how to get it done.
The AFC’s Action Plan had outlined some of the party’s ideas and proposals, but at the end of the day, the educators, student councilors, and schools’ management professionals need to be the ones fine tuning these ideas and adding to them. We think there is need for a national discourse of educators. The AFC’s Action Plan had suggested:
• A comprehensive review of the education system from Nursery to University to ensure that educational and management methods are effective and relevant for students in all regions.
• Introduce special courses on conflict resolution and cultural and religious understanding and tolerance.
• An approach to education that fosters active, interdisciplinary life-long learning and offers traditional and non-traditional subjects in schools.
• Give students the ability to access new skills and knowledge on their own initiative through information technology.
• Re-introduce a scholarship scheme to reward the brightest and the best with the opportunity to realize their dreams.
• Train teachers to use teaching methods that recognise that there are many ways of defining intelligence and that each child has a special intelligence and motivation which teachers, parents and others working with children have an obligation to discover and build upon.
• Shift the focus of education from memorization of subject matter to developing a range of problem-solving skills including written and verbal communication, mathematical, artistic, foreign language and ICT skills and emphasizing the ability to solve problems through critical thinking.
• Implement civics and life-skills programmes beginning in primary school to equip students with a strong sense of self-worth, improved social skills, and a sense of civic responsibility and empowerment.
• Introduce quality out of school sporting, recreational, cultural, entrepreneurial and other programmes from primary to secondary school

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