Education in this country has no clear cut direction or goals. The country benefitted from the intervention of the PEIP and the BEAMS projects. But it must be noted that as soon as the life of the projects ended there was almost no continuation or follow-up to what these programmes put into place.
Apart from infrastructural works which were done there was also training at all levels in education in order to build capacity in various levels.
These interventions were beneficial in that millions of dollars were invested to raise the standards of education delivery in this country. Of recent, new secondary schools that were built by BEAMS are well equipped with tools and furnishings to carry out programmes such as metal and wood works, joinery, agriculture, science, home economics. These are all underutilized because the Ministry of Education is still trying to give every child a secondary academic education. They have succeeded in getting these children into schools but the programmes in academic schools do not cater for this mass learning of the same concepts to all the children.
Then there is the Management programme which was run by NCERD for the Ministry of Education. This is a home study programme which all and sundry in education found to be very useful for school managers. This programme plays a great part in senior promotions in that successful completion gives the applicant eight points. This programme is facilitated by a number of Master Trainers in every region. These Master Trainers are trained to hold tutorial sessions and to mark assignments of the trainees. These master trainers are given a monthly stipend, and a batch of trainees who are senior teachers, would complete the course in eighteen months. Presently there are hundreds of applications from teachers who want to join the other batch which should have commenced in September last.
The present position regarding the Management Programme is as follows:
Master trainers have not been given their stipend since January.
The recently completed batch has been told nothing about their graduation or practicum assessment. No one from the Ministry of Education or NCERD thought it fit to contact the Master Trainers concerning the future of the programme.
This is a classic example of how our education system is being neglected in sections. Things are falling apart.
I hope that the Education Minister acquaints herself with the programmes that build education and not only on CSEC passes. Good managers run good schools, good schools produce good results.
How silly it is to look at outcomes only if inputs are not considered.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
