A blatant assault on public education and our children

Dec 19, 2014 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I have consistently argued and provided examples to substantiate my argument, that the Guyana Government has no respect for Guyanese. It is owing to this lack of respect for the people that the government, its ministers and officials continue to do what they want, and say what they feel, with no regard for the views of the people. In the minds of these “political bosses”, the people have no right to question them. The latest of this blatant disregard for people was, again, exhibited by the Minister of Education Priya Manickchand.
According to a Stabroek News report, (12/13/14) the minister of the public education system in Guyana told the media that private school education is in her child’s best interest. Imagine the minister of education actually suggesting to the people, more particularly parents, school administrations, teachers and students that she does not believe the public school system will be in the best interest of her child. What a comfort to ordinary Guyanese parents! This is a brazen and most callous disregard for the people and the entire public education system. It is no secret that under the PPP/C regime. the public education system has deteriorated at an alarming pace, and what the Minister has indicated, through her decision, is that she is either not equipped or interested in trying to fix it. The minister, therefore, does not guarantee that her management and leadership of the public education system will be in the best interest of the nation’s children, if indeed it is not in the interest of her child. My advice, therefore, to the minister, would be to demit office if you do not believe in the system you are entrusted to manage. Your negative attitude towards the public school system is likely to affect every child, teacher and administrator who are part of this system. Our children deserve a leader in education who believes in them, are passionate about education and would roll up his/her sleeves to ensure that everything is done to provide the avenues and opportunities necessary for them to succeed. This consistent bashing of the public school system by you, Ms. Manickchand, is disrespectful, insensitive and very disheartening. What message are you sending to our parents and every child enrolled in a public school?
To even imagine that you will attempt to proffer an excuse for your dismissing of the public school system in this way is unbelievable. According to you, the public school system would not admit your child unless that child has met the age requirement, as per regulation. Well doesn’t every Guyanese parent have to adhere to this rule? Are you now surprised that this rule exists? Weren’t you, Ms. Manickchand, aware that there was such a rule, or is the rule now a problem because it is now personal to you, or is the regulation being used as a mere excuse for your disrespectful act? Further, is the message to parents of children who fail to meet the age requirement to simply enroll their children in private schools? If this latter position is indeed the message you wish to promote to parents, I must remind you that, unlike you and your cabinet colleagues, the average Guyanese parent cannot afford to send their children to public schools, owing to the economic realities they face daily. These parents, also, do not have the “luxury” to borrow or pilfer from the national treasury to satisfy their financial woes. Contrary to what you may believe, it is the desire of every parent to ensure that his/her child receives a good education. So, if the public education system is not in the best interest of your child one may conclude that it not in the best interest of any other child. For many ordinary Guyanese, whose children saturate the public school system, education is seen as the only means to break the cycle of poverty in which they may be trapped.
Ms. Manickchand’s very act of sending her child to a private school and then attempting to justify this decision flies in the face of decency, common sense and most basic cognitive perception. Nothing in the minister’s attitude exemplifies a leader who understands and truly appreciates public education.
I am left to conclude that her actions and comments might have been done out of sheer disregard for the very system she leads. Or is it that Ms. Manickchand’s actions and comments are in keeping with the narrow political objective of the government which is to politicize the public sector?
Any government which sees no harm in working towards the politicization of the education sector is a government out of control. When the future of our children is left up to political leaders who are driven by partisan political motives, and not a true passion to ensure our students achieve, we have to be concerned. The PPP/C fails to connect the role of education to the development of the single most important resource, human resource, in any country and because of this shortsightedness, human capital continues to be depleted and relegated by this regime. How can we, as a people, sit and accept that these assaults on one of our most important public sectors is treated in such dismissive and unimportant fashion? How can we allow our teachers and administrators in the public school system to continue to feel that they are worthless or second class to their counterparts in the private school system? Why must we sit comfortably as the Minister of Education and the PPP/c unleash this moral assault on our educators and children in the public school system?
I am reminded that in the just concluded US Midterm election, in a small city in Northern Virginia, a Republican candidate was vying for a seat on the local school board. I watched as both members of the Republican and Democratic Parties, parents, teachers, social and political activists, and various civil society leaders came out to denounce the candidate and encourage people to vote against him. Their main reason for rejecting his candidacy was because he has educated his older children through the private school system and currently has younger children enrolled in private schools. The people, in one voice, chided him for wanting to be a leader in the public school system when, according to them, he certainly does not believe in that system. According to them, his mere act of sending his children to private schools is an insult to the public school system; what good then can the children in the public school expect from him. Let me point out here that this man was not vying to be the head of the school board; he was simply hoping to be voted in as a member of that board. In our case, Ms. Manickchand is the head of the public education system, not merely a staff of the Ministry of Education. She is a policymaker and the person who oversees the entire functioning of the system. It is, therefore, important that as members of the public, parents, educators, legislators, union leaders and members of civil society, that we begin to question her desire to work in the best interest of our children enrolled in the public school system. We owe this much to our children. The minister’s attempt at justifying her action just cannot hold water. We are also aware that most of the children of government officials refuse to enroll their children in the public school system, so Manickchand is not alone, but she must be the one to demonstrate leadership on this issue and encourage her colleagues to take the lead.
Still trying to justify her action, Ms. Manickchand claims that just like every other parent she has a right to choose where she sends her child to school. Again, this comment is arrogant and demonstrates a lack, on the minister, of some basic protocols regarding her job. Firstly, she is wrong to assume that as a minister of government, cabinet member and Member of Parliament, she is held to the same standard as an ordinary Guyanese parent. The minister must know that when other parents select to send their children to a private school, their decision does not arouse or attract the same kind of interest, suspicion and worry. Unlike Ms. Manickchand, these parents are not assumed to have intimate knowledge of the workings of the education system, they may have no solid details regarding the nature and scope of the problems which plague the system. Further they may have no information regarding relevance of the curriculum, education goals, policy effect and other intricate details regarding the entire education system. It is the job of the minister of education to know these things and based on her decision to “diss” the public school system, she might be indicating that the problems or drawbacks associated with the public schools system are either beyond her capacity to fix or that she can care less about fixing them, simply because as a parent, she may have a ready alternative. People get their clue of how well the public school is managed or “fit for purpose” from signals sent by people like Ms. Manickchand, the Minister of Education. So, for Ms. Manickchand to think that her personal views and actions regarding the public school is a private matter will remain a figment of her imagination.
For the record, I have nothing against the private school system as I believe it is providing the leadership that is so lacking in the Ministry of Education. However, I take serious umbrage to Ms. Manickchand’s dismissive attitude towards the nation’s public education system. I am reminded that the Minister benefitted from the very public school system she now disses. What about giving by Ms. Manickchand, where is that passion? Who is looking for the interest of our children?
Lurlene Nestor

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