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NGSA and our schools
Editorial…
Kaieteur News- Thousands of our children this week are writing their “Sixth Grade Assessment Examinations”.
This annual rite of passage is a major event that has been given a very prominent place in our national psyche. This is at it should be: for our nation, the graduates of this “Assessment” represent our collective hope, our future. The most valuable resource of any country is not its gold or diamonds or its factories but its people. But like all resources, it is now accepted that they must be developed for them – and the society they collectively constitute – to achieve their innate potential. Education is what develops our people resource: not necessarily the narrow cramming of facts and figures or the churning out of bodies to become cogs of industrial production but the creation of individuals who can best fulfil their inalienable humanity.
In preparing our citizens for living more fulfilling lives, governments utilise the educational system and strive to include in the curriculum and in its teaching practice, those forms of knowledge and methodologies that are in accordance with the ethos of the society. We must reiterate, as we have done in the past, that in the primary school level here we have a curriculum that we can all be proud of. It encompasses not just the three “R’s” – reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic – but a very comprehensive coverage of a wide range of topics covered under the rubric of “Social Studies and Science”. We are willing to hazard that if any adult today were to thoroughly go through the knowledge base that is required nowadays to pass the Sixth Grade Assessment Examination, that individual would be well prepared to deal with most of the encounters in everyday life.
Notwithstanding, the education system here is fraught with problems. There remain growing concerns about deviancy, indiscipline and bullying, as schools are increasingly becoming hotbeds of violence. This may be due to a series of factors, not least among them the impact of social media. The very social media perpetrates the most intimate problems in schools and broadcasts them. This distraction leads children away from their academic pursuits.
Our schools have had too many situations deteriorating into raw anger, with some levels of violence being part of an alarming mix. Previously, there were instances of the unthinkable, where parents threw all decorum out of the window, sought out teachers in the classroom or wider school environment, and pummeled them. Teachers themselves, the guardians of our young, have sometimes taken matters into their own hands, either to defend themselves or to retaliate against attackers. Regardless of the circumstances, and who was right and who wrong, the unacceptable and the outrageous have resulted, which could only have been damaging to vulnerable minds.
In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of troubling incidents in our schools. A child was forced to drink bleach by her peers, others beaten at schools on the West Demerara and even in Georgetown. This is not the best learning environment for nurturing the little ones, the slowly developing wave of Guyana’s future. Traumatic is the word that comes to mind, and the bullied and victimized are not the only ones impacted, especially when the unthinkable arrests the entire nation in the worst way possible.
The purpose of schools is to educate children, prepare them for work and to make meaningful contributions to the development of the country by equipping them with the necessary skills and attitude to be productive, successful and decent citizens. A good education is the key to a prosperous and bright future. Indeed, with a proper education, many Guyanese were able to obtain good jobs, successful careers and even owning their own businesses. We wish all our Sixth Grade students the very best in their “Assessments”.
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