Will Priya follow suit?

Jul 09, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Each year in Trinidad and Tobago, as in Guyana, the names of the top performers in the secondary school entrance examinations are usually published in the newspapers. In Guyana, there is usually a press conference where the names of the top performers across the country are announced and some of them paraded the following day in the newspapers.

Trinidad and Tobago has decided to change all of that. From this year, the names of the top performers at the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) will not be published. The SEA is Trinidad and Tobago’s equivalent of Guyana’s National Grade Six assessment (NGSA).

Last week, the Minister of Education of Trinidad and Tobago laid out the rationale for the decision. According to a report in the Trinidad Newsday, the practice of publicising the results was first started in an effort to inspire other students to achieve the same success as the top performers.

However, the report noted that instead, it has had negative results (no pun intended). According to the twin-island’s Minister of Education, the publicising of the top performers has overshadowed the success of other students who may have done well but were not among the top performers.

This publicising of the top performers was said to promote unhealthy competitiveness, often driven by parents.  It has the potential, according to the Minister, to place undue pressure on students to secure a high ranking in the examinations.

There can be little disputing that the competition for the top places drives an unhealthy rivalry among students. Children are attempting not simply to pass the examinations but to outdo their peers and emerge among the high flyers.

This competition, however, is not only between the students. It is also between parents who while they may not wish to admit it, are also hoping that their child beats the competition be it from the same school, the same neighbourhood, the same family or even the same country.

This competition affects the children. I have seen cases in which a child has done very well and gotten good marks but did not earn a place at the prestigious Queen’s College, which is usually reserved for the top-performing students.  When the child does not get a place at his parents’ number one choice of school, the child feels that he or she has disappointed his or her parents.

This can destroy a child’s future. If a child secures St. Rose’s for example, they should be happy but many are not because a great deal of expectation and pressure was placed on their tiny shoulders to qualify for Queen’s.

Parents go to all manner of trouble to prepare their children for these examinations to the point of stealing away an important part of their childhood. When children should be at home or with their friends playing or having fun after school, they are forced to attend extra lessons. Then after dinner, they are expected to hit the books again. These are young children and the psychological stress may be too much for them. No wonder in first form so many of the top-performers suffer from burnout.

The competition is detrimental to both parents and students alike. When some parents see how some parents reward their children, they too may feel inadequate. In a video posted last year on social media, one parent gave his successful child a bagful, amounting to millions of dollars, as a reward for her success at the National Grade Six Assessment. Yet, there are other parents who cannot even afford a bicycle for their child.

Of the almost 17,000 students who wrote Guyana’s National Grade Six Assessment this past week, less than one percent will qualify for Queen’s College. Does this mean that the remaining 16,800 plus students are failures? No it does not. But the extreme focus on the top performers can make these students feel inferior and not good enough.

Some stakeholders in Trinidad and Tobago have welcomed the decision not to publish the names of the top-performers. One parent has said that the focus on the top performers was to the disadvantage of other students but also noted that it masks the overall results.

In Guyana, more than half of the students fail to gain 50 percent of the pass marks each year. And there is tremendous disparity in performance between hinterland regions and those non-hinterland regions. But from the hype generated by the announcement of the top students, you would be easily misled into believing that all is well with our students’ performance.

The Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, should seriously consider going the route of Trinidad and Tobago and not publicising the names of the top performers. Those who want to know their ranking can do so privately.

It is time we remove the pressure from our children. They should be spared the nonsensical competition.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

 

 

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