The shifts in the Education system

Jun 14, 2014 Editorial

Nearly two decades, in the wake of the announcement of the National Grade Six examinations there were those in the upper echelon of society who screamed that a young male teacher had cheated. To make matters worse, that young male teacher was operating from a school that was never expected to produce students capable of achieving much.
Even the Ministry of Education had created a stereotype of the various schools. They knew which schools would do well and those that certainly would not. This stereotype is very much there although in public the officials would not admit it.
The school was West Ruimveldt Primary School and the teacher was a young man named Wilfred Success. When the results were announced West Ruimveldt Primary School had secured six of the top ten pupils. Parents who had spent thousands of dollars on extra lessons with some of the prestigious teachers in the system were among the loudest to scream.
How did children from the dregs of the society perform so well? That was impossible. That particular society was already known to produce criminals and the society was not prepared to shatter the mould. The officials in the Education Ministry listened to the voices of the high and mighty and mounted an investigation.
The investigators found nothing. They had been told that the school had got hold of the examination papers and had drilled the children. For one year the matter would not go away. Wilfred Success did it again the next year and while there were the exclamations the high and mighty were beginning to realize that there was a good teacher who would not turn his back on the disadvantaged in society.
The Education Ministry attempted to transfer him. He was being wasted in a depressed community. But Success refused the transfer and continued to make a lot of poor parents happy. And his band of disciples grew to include the rich; his critics were now sending their children for him to tutor them. There was a similar ripple when Leonora Primary School produced some top students.
Today, nearly twenty years ago those children who opened the eyes of Guyana to Wilfred Success are themselves parents, some with children preparing to write those very examinations. At the same time we are witnessing how parents are neglecting the once top schools—St Margaret’s, Stella Maris. There was a time when every parent wanted his or her child to attend these schools because they provided excellent results.
Those with money then sought to get their children to the private schools that were also attracting good results. Today, many people are coming to the conclusion that if they pay for education they are going to get the best results. There is no consideration for the fact that the child must also demonstrate an inclination toward the academics.
What the system has exposed is that just after we concluded that we did not have teachers the private schools have emerged and they are attracting relatively good teachers who can do just about anything but mathematics.
It cannot be accidental that children are struggling with English and Mathematics in the public school system. The system seems happy with teachers who resent mathematics because it employs them and does not insist on them improving their qualifications by way of special holiday courses. The result is that the country is continuing to lament poor performance in mathematics.
If this is unique to the public schools then the Education Ministry may wish to introduce a monetary incentive for passes in mathematics. It may do well to give mathematics and science teachers a special salary.
If the problem with mathematics is across the spectrum then we can rest assured that the private schools are going to poach on the public schools unless the monetary incentive is so good that no teacher would want to leave.
But there is one other thing that we need to take note of. Wilfred Success is no longer concentrating on the children of a depressed community and the Education Ministry has not done much to see that those children do not form the bulk of those who fall by the wayside.

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