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CHANGING OUR ELITIST SCHOOL SYSTEM

Feb 01, 2018 Editorial

There is the notion that education is being shamelessly exploited by some at the detriment of many, especially the poorer in society. Most persons are unaware of the different ways this is taking place at both the primary and secondary levels of our public schools. It begins with the choice of schools and is baffling that there is a firmly entrenched perception that certain schools are good and others are bad. It is a dangerous idea that has become ingrained in the psyche of Guyanese.
All the public schools should be considered good schools, and if they are not, then why have governments allowed their existence. A school is perceived to be either good or bad when parents have to make choices for their children after the Grade Six results are published. For many of them, a good school has to do with desirability which is influenced by reputation, the quality of teaching and the overall academic performance of students.
In the past, students who were deemed to be bright or were from wealthy parents with status were placed at the two best schools in the country, the all-male Queen’s College or Bishops’ High School which was for female students only at the time. Even though this has changed, the message which was subtly sent out was that these were good schools because they catered to the successful students and those with status in society. Other schools were considered average because they took in the ‘not-so-sharp’ students whose parents had little or no status in society. Of course, there were exemptions, but this was the general thought.
Today, the Ministry of Education allocates students to all schools based on their performance in examinations, but parents continue to seek transfers from the Ministry for their children to attend the ‘better’ schools. The primary reason is that parents still believe that the schools assigned to their children are not good enough.
The truth is there are good and better schools, not bad ones. But the fact is we have inherited an elitist education system from British colonialism with little or no change made to it.
The Ministry of Education has essentially reinforced this elitist system every year by parading before the nation the top performers of examinations who invariably go to the best schools. These students are praised and held in high esteem by the Ministry as examples of success, and this is reinforced by the media with their performance, names, pictures and schools in full glare.
It would be difficult to shift from this tradition, but probably the Ministry should seriously consider stopping the cycle. It should reform and modernize the education system to rid it of any sense of elitism and re-educate the people so that they can understand that educational success is not uniform but varies in accordance with individual ability. Which means that if students attend a certain school and become first-rate carpenters or plumbers, their success should be seen and celebrated in the same way as students who went to an elite school and become a lawyer or a doctor.
This distinction in our educational system should end. Schools should enhance the lives of students to develop a cultural identity and acquire a set of skills and information that will enable them to establish a rewarding career. They should help to shape their lives into becoming good and productive citizens of society, promote economic growth, the welfare of the country and preserve its dominant culture. The challenge, however, lies in our educators reforming and modernizing the education system to get rid of exclusivity in order to meet the needs of every student.

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