What is going to happen to our schoolchildren?

Oct 08, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – We are having dry weather at the moment in Guyana. As you drive around the city, you stumble on many schools holding school sport.

But should the hosting of school sport, as they are called, not have been cancelled this year? Given the loss triggered by the almost 18-month long disruption of regular face-to-face schooling, it would have been presumed that a frantic attempt would have been made to maximize classroom time.

The President of Guyana spoke about learning losses. Addressing an Education Summit at the United Nations, he conceded that there was learning loss as a result of the pandemic but he said that interventions were being made.

The Education Minister has also admitted that there were learning losses. Earlier this year, she set alarm bells off when she said, “I don’t think people really appreciate what two years of school closure has done. But we have to find ways to make sure that these children get exposed to the hours of education that they need. We may have to work into July/August.”

Well, there were no classes during the July/August holidays. According to reports, the teachers said they were exhausted (doing what I don’t know). But that important period when catch-up and remedial classes should have been held did not take place.

Perhaps the school sport should have been held during the holidays so that when the children returned for the Christmas term they would not have to spend so much time on the field but instead be able to devote longer hours to classroom instruction.

School sport is a guzzler of time. The school population in each school is divided into Houses. The various Houses have to keep their Inter-House competition to determine who will represent each House at the school’s sport.  Classes have to be sacrificed for this.

Then classes have to be sacrificed again when the schools hosts the athletic events. Mind you, it is not only the athletic events which take students away from the classroom.

When the respective schools complete their championships, there are District Championships and then the National Championships.  Not only athletes representing their schools, are required to attend these latter championships. Students also attend in order to cheer their colleagues.

It is not unknown for robberies to take place at these events. There have been well-publicized incidents of children being robbed of their cellular phones by thugs who invade these events. Attending these championships mean less classroom time.

The District and National Schools’ Championship can take you to the end of November. Then there are the Diwali events hosted in schools, Christmas concerts and parties, and school tours to various parts of the country. The first term ends with little schoolwork done.

By the second term, Mashramani events intrude, then Easter. The third term is annually shortened because of CSEC examinations and CAPE.

So with all these extra-curricular activities taking place during the school year, where are the teachers going to find enough time to reduce learning losses? No wonder we have an educational system that is elitist.

It is accepted that the school cycling, swimming, and athletics championships are like a nursery for our young athletes. This is the pool from which talent emerges. But these should be scheduled in such a way that they do not reduce classroom time.

School children also play other sport, including table tennis. But they do after hours and on weekends. So why can’t the athletics, swimming and cycling competitions at the level of the schools, district, and nationally, take place on weekends and during the August holidays?

Why instead of holding the swimming, athletics, and swimming competitions all at the same time, these cannot be staggered and held individually and on weekends and/or during the school holidays. The reason why this cannot happen is because there is likely to be resistance from Teachers.

The Ministry of Education has to give priority to reducing learning loss in school. And there is no substitute for increased classroom time in reducing this deficit. But obviously the Ministry will also want to delude itself into believing that it is providing a rounded education for children. So it will want to persevere with the school sport events.

A compromise has to be struck. It is suggested that in each Region, the Regional Educational Authorities ask volunteers – including parents, to help and manage organize school sport events. In this way these events can be held at weekends or during the vacation periods and would not require the supervision of teachers.

The District and National Championships should also be disaggregated and separate competitions be held, on weekends, for swimming, track and field and cycling.

More classroom time will be available. And this can only help reduce learning losses.

(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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