Leaders are responsible for the welfare of all of the people

Sep 08, 2013 Letters

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Dear  Editor,
In furtherance to my letter directed to the Minister of Education Priya Manickchand captioned, “The Minister needs to wake up or bow out”, I draw your attention to a recent study conducted in the UK that found that persistent poverty negatively affect the cognitive development of Children at: http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/news.aspxitemid=2013&itemTitle=Persistent+poverty+damages+young+children92s+ cognitive+development,+study+finds&sitesectionid=905&sitesectiontitle=Press+Releases.
I am not, by any means, advancing an argument that poverty is the sole impediment to the cognitive development of kids, that parental responsibility is not important to their educational performance, or that every kid whose existence is affected by poverty will not or cannot learn and show creditable achievement academically. Back in the day, in the midst of poverty, racial discrimination and marginalization
in education and every cultural, social and economic sphere, African Americans can be credited with giving to the world inventions and creations that have enhanced our living standards in the world. For example, George Washington Carver, a former slave, developed hundreds of products from peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans and pecans that benefit agricultural production and the health and well being of the world today. Doctor Charles Richard Drew, a medical doctor, pioneered the system for long term preservation of blood plasma, a process that was revolutionary in the medical field at that time, and is today instrumental in surgical and other health processes.
And less we forget, Garrett Agustus Morgan  was the first person to patent a traffic signal, an accomplishment that was mentioned by William Jefferson Clinton in his 1999 Presidential State of the Union Address.  And we can cite innumerable examples of Guyanese, including Walter Rodney, Cheddi Jagan, Eusi Kwayana, Ivan Van Sertima etc, whose earlier less than egalitarian circumstances, did not impede
their later academic, intellectual and professional achievements. The fact is, one cannot simply dismiss anomalies in educational achievements by attributing it to a
segment of a population’s lack of values for education, which is, in effect, where, unfortunately, Madam Manickchand went.
In analyzing data drawn from a study of children born in the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2001, the researchers found that quote, “….seven year olds who have experienced poverty since infancy perform substantially worse in a range of ability tests than those who have never been poor, even when family circumstances and parenting skills are taken into consideration….”.
Most social scientists would agree that one cannot exclude the availability of resources as a causative factor from any understanding of how we develop as humans. And the identity of such resources cannot be limited to the material necessities we normally associate with our livelihood. The quality of our lives  depends on both material and non material factors, and to the extent where availability is intersected by political, socio and economic circumstances as those that currently exist in Guyana, one should not simply jump to prejudiced and stereotypical conclusions that the absence of values among a certain segment of the population are causative factors for a lack of educational achievement from their kids.
The researchers opined that quote, “…Much is made of the importance of parenting for Children’s cognitive development, and our study supports these claims. But importantly, our analysis shows that low income has a two-fold effect on children’s ability: it has an effect on children regardless of anything their parents do, but it also has an effect on the parenting itself..”. Why this is instructive in light of Madam Minister’s comments, is that the concerns expressed by the opposition did not single
out its constituents. The concern, in my understanding, addressed the anomalies in the performance in English and Math from children that took the tests. Madam Minister herself reduced the discussion to one of ethnic performance in her comments. She did not charge the opposition to counsel the parents in our national community to value education. She singled out the constituency of the opposition, who everyone but the non compos mentis knows and would admit, largely comprise of African Guyanese. In that context, she excluded parents in her party’s ethnic constituency, and others in the population mosaic, whose kids also under- performed in English and Mathematics. So the question becomes, is the Minister saying that only African Guyanese parents need counseling in valuing education?
I am neither a social or psychological scientist, and my views represent thoughts that are products of commonsense, the ability to understand what makes sense and what does not, and an affinity with morality and ethics that are not relative or convenient. I have begun an electoral pursuit of becoming the Mayor of the Capital City of Guyana on the political platform of the Independent Party. Regardless of the outcome of that election after it is concluded, I understand this to be a position of leadership and representation of a city that is comprised of the gorgeous mixture of the Guyanese people.  I would consider it injudicious, prejudiced, and certainly inappropriate, to
respond to the concerns of a Councillor from another party in the district of Kitty about the garbage situation in the city, by admonishing him or her to educate their
constituency on the values of environmental cleanliness. It does not require a college degree or tertiary academic accomplishments to understand this construct of leadership. Leaders are servants of the people, and responsible for the welfare and quality of life of the people, not just those they consider to be their kith and kin.
As I have pointed out in my previous missive on the subject, Madam Minister’s comment and prejudiced stereotype attributions represent a microcosm of the general direction assumed by her party since coming into Government. It is one
that exhibits dismissive arrogance and intolerance for the concerns of those that have not traditionally been under its political umbrella. Its attitude and conduct, from its inception into office, demonstrate that those who it considers to be “at the bottom” of the economic, social and cultural pyramid have no rights or concerns which it is obligated to respect, despite its facetious proclamations of being a Government for all of the people. The abhorrent monopolizing of the public media as a partisan political propaganda tool, despite the fact that the public tax payer funds that goes into its operation comes from all sections of the population, including those who gave the opposition a combined majority at the last polls, represent unimpeachable evidence of that mindset.
Elections do not necessarily assure a true democracy. There are many other foundational pillars that must be in establishment to harness and contain the absolute corrupting of electoral power. Unfortunately those additional pillars
either do not exist in Guyana, or have been co-opted or are being arrogantly and rudely ignored. This kind of dystopian national management of the affairs of the nation is reflected across the entirety of our social and economic existence, and most particularly in the academic and educational performance of all of our kids. Please Ms. Manickchand, wake up and take you political blinkers off.
Mark A. Benschop

 

 

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