Windsor Forest is no longer an A grade school

Dear Editor,

After many, many years some thought has been given to Windsor Forest Primary School. I noted some infrastructural work has been done in terms of the building of a new sanitary block which seems to take forever to finish; the bottom part of the new wing is enclosed and recently some work has been done on the playground and the installing of two bleachers.

Having observed the work done on the playground and the bleachers I thought finally someone is thinking about our children and some respect is being given back to the school. However having observed the quality of work done on the ground and the speed at which it was done I stopped to query who was doing the work, for it was puzzling to see ‘government’ workers working with such haste. I then learnt that it was a Chinese company donating this facility to the school. Thanks to the Chinese for making such a kind gesture since they have a monument erected in the school compound.

Editor, as a past student of this school I am happy to see that attention is being given to the school’s infrastructure. Permit me, however, to go back a little as I am from the old school.

As recently as the ’70s and ’80s parents living within the vicinity of the school never sought to take their children to private or other schools that were seemingly doing well, so to speak. Persons who attended Windsor Forest Primary school emerged to become doctors, lawyers, accountants − and the list can go on. My grandchildren attended this very school which was once an A grade school, and gained places at Queen’s College. This I must credit to the then hard-working, quality teachers and astute leadership of the head teacher. Sad to say today Windsor Forest Primary School has moved from A to B and is now a C grade school. Parents are not even looking at it as a last resort; I guess the private schools benefit while simultaneously it relieves parents of the thought that their children are not getting quality education.

Should this not be the primary goal of the Ministry of Education to deliver quality education in our public schools, not to mention the exorbitant sums of money allocated every year for this?  Editor my grandchild is attending this said school, and one may want to question why am I sending her there. Well, I guess I still have faith that the school can rise again. However because of my grand attending the school I would go and pick her up from time to time. From my short visits there I observed the following:-

-Some of the male teachers wear jeans and earrings and most times have their shirts out of their pants. Is this the role model our sons are being exposed to? Does the Ministry of Education have a mode of dress for teachers? If so is it adhered to? I would not even want to go down the road to describe the mode of dress of some of the female teachers. I recall my days of schooling where the male teachers were clad in shirtjacs and dress pants. Teachers commanded the respect of the entire community. Gone are those days!

-I also listened to the use of language and the manner in which one of the male teachers spoke to the students under his charge. This in itself sounds like abuse. What better place for our children to learn to speak properly − for that matter proper English. For one moment after listening to the said male staff member I had to check to see if I was at school or in a minibus park. I call on the Ministry of Education Region Three to investigate whether we are running a boot camp at Windsor Forest Primary.

-Teachers can be seen in the school corridor during instructional hours talking on cell phones. Is this what teachers are paid to do?

-Lessons are given at some teachers’ places in the village as a continuation of the class work. (Is this how the curriculum should be taught?) Lessons are given to grades 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 students. In the case of one grade in particular, students are required to take lessons from one teacher in the neighbouring village after school and then travel to Anna Catherina for a continuation until seven pm at another teacher’s house. Editor, how packed is the curriculum that it cannot be covered within the framework of the timetable? If this is so then our educators and planners have to revisit the structure governing the teaching periods and the amount of content to be covered within a sort time. Editor, for a child to go to school at 8 o’clock in the morning and return at seven in the night, is this not torture? It seems like ‘lessonitis’ has gotten a hold of this school at the expense of our children. The Minister of Education should say what happens to the children whose parents cannot afford it?

-Finally, Editor, my question is, does success matter to the educators of this school? Is the aforesaid noticed by the head teacher? Is proper supervision being done by the Department of Education? I write with a fervent hope that those who are responsible for the quality delivery of education begin to get down to their jobs and let our children be given quality education. It is the right of every child to have an education.

Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)