Empowerment through education

Sep 21, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
There is a saying that one cannot be educated and poor at the same time. Implicit in that saying is that education is a means of lifting people out of poverty by providing them with technical and cognitive competencies that allow them to make intelligent choices in life and in the process enhance their life chances in their pursuit of that good life.
This is why many governments, both in the developed and developing world, that are keen on reducing the poverty gap between the rich and the poor are investing heavily in education, since it has already been established that there is a positive correlation between education attainment levels and the pace of economic development.
A number of Asian countries, more particularly China and India with mega-populations, have successfully accelerated their pace of development by putting emphasis on education, especially in the area of information and communication technology.
There is an interesting story of a 13-year-old girl from a poor family in northern India who has enrolled in a Masters Degree in microbiology, after her father sold his land to pay for some of her tuition in the hope of catapulting her into India’s growing middle class.
According to the story, Sushma Verma, finished high school at seven and earned an undergraduate degree at age 13, a feat she accomplished thanks to the sacrifices and encouragement of her uneducated and impoverished parents. The family lives in a cramped, single-bedroom apartment, with the only income coming from her father, whose earning is less than 100 dollars a month, which is below the national minimum wage in Guyana. Their most precious possessions include a study table and a second-hand computer.
There are a number of lessons that could be derived from Sushma’s experience, one being that poverty need not be a barrier in the pursuit of higher education. There is no correlation between social class and intelligence quotient (IQ) levels. Indeed, a significant number of high fliers in Guyana, at both the primary and secondary levels, come from families that could hardly be described as affluent. As the education system becomes more democratized, children from all socio-economic backgrounds are provided with opportunities to benefit from an enhanced quality of education delivery, thereby making the system not only more egalitarian, but competitive as well.
This development augurs well for the development of Guyana, as it allows for our children to realize their true potential without having to go to the ‘best’ schools, since there is a much better spread of educational resources throughout the country.
The days of privileged public schools are now over, especially at the primary level, with the introduction of policies that dictate that children must be allocated places in close proximity to where they live. At the secondary level, places are awarded on the basis of performance at the National Grade Six Assessment, with a limited number of students placed at senior secondary schools which include Queen’s College, The Bishops High School and President’s College.
There are some who argue that President’s College is being downgraded by this current administration because it was established by former President Forbes Burnham. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth of the matter is that there is today a much more equitable distribution of resources throughout the system, quite unlike the past when President’s College alone was consuming more financial resources than all of the secondary schools combined in the whole of Region Four.
President’s College is now much more accommodating to students from all social backgrounds, as opposed to an ‘elite’ group of students who in the past were handpicked on considerations other than merit.
Another important aspect of learning today is the growing use of computers in the process. Computers with internet access are powerful educational resources which help students to access information which is not readily available in the confines of the classroom. The use of information and communication technology is a powerful tool to bridge the cognitive and knowledge divide. We now live in what is described as the information age, and it is our ability to access, interpret and transmit information that will determine how well we succeed, both in our personal lives and by extension, as a society.
Education must at all times strive to inculcate in our children a scientific world view, based on sound moral and ethical standards. It is through education that social barriers can be broken as we seek to build a more egalitarian society based on the principles of social justice and opportunities for all.
Hydar Ally

 

 

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