Zimeena Rasheed’s feat of securing 20 passes at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations (18 Grade Ones and two Grade Twos), which was announced on Tuesday was astounding to say the least. Never in the history of the country had a student written so many subjects; and it’s astonishing that she passed so many with flying colours. No less surprising was the news that her Anna Regina Secondary School mate Yogeeta Persaud also obtained 18 Grade Ones – the total number of subjects she sat at the examination. These two young women deserve kudos for what they have accomplished. They clearly are way above average in terms of their academic skills.
It is well known that it is the practice of secondary schools to stream students when they are about to enter Grade 10 (Fourth Form) based on their aptitude for certain subjects and their career choices – for those who may have already determined what path they want to take. Twenty and 18 subjects apiece would indicate that Zimeena and Yogeeta went beyond streaming and career choice and were possibly in competition with each other and perhaps with other students in the country and in the region as well. Ensuring that the top Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) prize is awarded to a local appears to be a matter of pride among local schools/educators, who may have encouraged the obviously brilliant teens to go for it. More power to them, since this is the kind of stimulus or example that Guyanese children need.
Meanwhile, many other teenagers also have their own success stories emerging from the results of the regional examination administered by the CXC. Social media sites have been abuzz with the posting of grades, distinctions earned and congratulatory messages for the students. It was perhaps even more significant that the results came one day after the annual observance of International Youth Day. It was almost as if these teens were responding: yes we’re here – celebrate us.
In 1995, ten years after the first observance of International Youth Day, the UN General Assembly adopted a World Programme of Action for Youth. It identified 15 priority areas to be addressed to improve the situation of young people. These include education, employment, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency and youth and conflict among others. This was in recognition of the fact that globally young people were falling through the cracks owing to a lack of education and unemployment; that poverty was the driver of hunger and juvenile delinquency. Children and young people were being exposed to alcohol, tobacco and hard drugs much earlier and this was impacting on their health and well-being. For these and many other reasons, the General Assembly saw the need to promote youth development, to implore states to offer more support and opportunities for young people to participate fully in society.
Unless they experience some drastic change in fortune, young women like Zimeena and Yogeeta would be unlikely candidates for the programmes envisaged by the UN to open opportunities and turn life around for youths. These teenagers and their peers appear to be fully focused and set on the path to attaining whatever goals they may have set for themselves. Their academic prowess would indicate that they have the necessary support systems in place.
But then there are teenagers like Joshua Alleyne and Angela McAllister. And while teenagers like Zimeena and Yogeeta are the examples to which we would like to see all our young people aspire, the truth is that for the most part, they are closer to Joshua and Angela than we would like them to be; and they need saving.
Joshua Alleyne, who is just 18 years old, was on Tuesday charged with murdering Angela McAllister. This week, it was revealed that he had a troubled childhood. His mother called him “a monster” and claimed to have been living in fear. But then accusations were thrown by a paternal aunt, who claimed that Joshua’s mother was responsible for the way he turned out. The cold hard facts are that this young man was illiterate; he was robbed of the opportunity of an education and at the time, it seemed no one cared enough to fight for him or to do anything about it. He ended up in the youth correctional facility at Onderneeming after he was found guilty of theft. After four years, he emerged seemingly worse than before and began to abuse drugs. He landed in jail after he conducted a hold-up with a phony gun.
Angela McAllister started dating him after he was released from prison and it now emerges that there was some physical abuse during the relationship. She apparently concealed this from her family, but they had noticed enough of his violent predilection to ban him from their home. Angela, however, was not sufficiently convinced of the serious danger she was in.
There is the vast contrast between high-flyers like Zimeena and Yogeeta and the lost and vulnerable Joshua and Angela. Then there are the others in-between – those who may not end up imprisoned or dead, but who coast through the school system without attaining an education and who do not have the necessary life skills to successfully transition to adulthood either. Unless they can somehow be reached before they become ill-adjusted grown-ups, the chances of there being an increase in success stories will remain out of reach to the detriment of us all and of future generations.
