EDUCATION IS THE FUTURE

Mar 07, 2017 Editorial, Features / Columnists

School has been reopened for two months now and, unlike the previous years, most of the plans were in ready mode. Even though there were some hiccups, most of the children were able to adjust to their new schedules. The programmes instituted by the Ministry of Education have been working well.
The Ministry of Education has been proactive in providing the necessary support systems to help teachers facilitate their programmes. As an integrated, thematic approach to the curriculum, the “no child left behind” concept requires teachers to begin with the end in mind and work backwards to identify the critical understanding about core topics that have been identified for students to know. They must be able to examine the ways in which knowledge and skills from various subject disciplines may be integrated across a particular topic to provide students with a holistic understanding of it.
Educationally, it was a relatively sound idea; however, in practice, there have been some challenges in its implementation. The reason being, teachers’ initial training did not prepare them for this type of teaching. It has resulted in some teachers falling back within their comfort zone, especially because they did not have the knowledge and tools to do the job effectively. The consequence was a misalignment between what was intended and what was enacted.
It is known that too many public schools have been failing students. This viewpoint was made pellucid during the presentation of the 2017 Budget, when the Minister of Finance revealed that of the 14,386 students who wrote the 2016 National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) only 14% or 2,014 students achieved a passing grade in Mathematics and less than 50% in English. The Minister stressed that these results represented a crisis, since more than 12,000 students were not numerate, and more than half of those who wrote English could not sufficiently comprehend the language.
The last time the pass rate for Grade Six Mathematics was made public was in 2014 when 31.52% of the 15,227 candidates who sat the examinations that year achieved 50% or more in the subject area, but less than 50 percent obtained a pass in English.
The then opposition had opined that the government of the day was satisfied with mediocrity, and that this was evident in the pockets of educational excellence across the country. However, the continued poor performance of students at the NGSA is unacceptable to the current government which has called for a more proactive approach from all the stakeholders to improve the pass rate. One gets the impression that better examination successes at the NGSA could have been attained if the past administrations had paid more attention to the curriculum and tried to solve the perennial problems experienced by many schools.
Since taking office, the government has placed emphasis on the delivery of quality education to all, including the primary and secondary schools which are failing the nation’s children. But this may be a difficult task to accomplish, given the shortage of qualified teachers and the lack of resources. As a result, a large number of students continue to leave high school without the skills needed to obtain a job or unable to matriculate to the tertiary level. This has led to an increase in the youth unemployment rate which is currently very high – clearly a recipe for crime and gang warfare.
Guyana is at a critical juncture in its development phase; therefore, a well-educated and skilled workforce is needed for sustainable growth. We must improve the education system in order to increase the achievement outcomes in all schools. And although it would take team effort, dedication, commitment and inspiration to reap success, we owe it to our children.