It is refreshing to see ministerial initiative embedded in a results-oriented framework and targeted at enhancing service to the public. There isn’t nearly enough of it and the truth is that ministerial impact has been overshadowed for the last 20 years by the command and control style of the PPP executive both in the Office of the President and Freedom House.
Education Minister Ms Priya Manickchand is really at the starting point of what can be an enlightening and beneficial intervention to improve the performance of CSEC candidates in the critical subjects of Mathematics and English. Hard questions however still have to be asked and answered about this project.
Poor performance in these two subjects has been the bane of the Caribbean for many years and some territories have had alarming results. Jamaican Education Minister Mr Ronnie Thwaites on Thursday declared himself shocked at the island’s results in the exams. The pass rate for Jamaica in English A plummeted from 63.9 percent last year to 46% percent this year while the pass rate in Mathematics dipped from 33.2 percent last year to 31.7 percent.
At a press conference on Friday to announce the Guyana results, Ms Manickchand’s woes mirrored those of Mr Thwaites. The pass rate in English A declined precipitously from 60.8% last year to 37.02 percent this year. It appears that a syllabus revision which appeared in the English A exams for the first time this year had an impact on results across the region. In Mathematics, Guyana’s pass rate declined from 30.4% to 29.69% – worse than Jamaica’s.
The only glimmer of hope in the Minister’s presentation was the result of a pilot project she initiated shortly after assuming office last year. Keenly aware that the results in these two subject areas were dismal, the Minister embarked on a project geared to produce improvements in the period between last December and May’s sitting. Thirty-six schools across the country were targeted and a series of measures implemented.
These included special training for Maths and English teachers via the Non-Graduate programme, workshops with subject specialists, strengthening the Maths programme at the Cyril Potter College of Education, and the institutionalisation of a remediation programme.
The Ministry also ensured that the students participating in the pilot obtained the requisite resources including texts, study guides and past CSEC papers, among other things.
Some of the schools identified to be in the pilot project included Abram Zuil – where the top CSEC performer hailed from – and Aurora, in Region 2; Stewartville, Leonora, and Zeeburg, in Region 3; Annandale, Covent Garden, and Bladen Hall, in Region 4; East Ruimveldt, North Georgetown, Brickdam, and Richard Ishmael, in Georgetown; Bush Lot, Bygeval, and Woodley Park primary-top, in Region 5; Tagore, New Amsterdam Multilateral, and Skeldon Line Path, in Region 6; Three Miles in Region 7; St. Ignatius, in Region 9; and Mackenzie High, Silver City, and Christianburg, in Region 10.
So did these measures make a difference to the May results? The Minister was clearly elated by the output. Though the national average for passes in both English A and Mathematics had declined, the Minister reported that for the 36 schools in the pilot project, the pass rate in Mathematics was 39.85% and 52.05% in English A – both significantly above the national figure. The proximate impetus for the improved results would appear to be the interventions mapped out by the Minister and her officers.
Buoyed by the returns, the Minister is now charting an expansion of the project to other schools and she told the press conference that she plans an aggressive public awareness programme that will entail interfacing with the community and parents in the quest for better scores. She projected that if the results matched planning that in three to four years, the hand-wringing over the performance in these two core subjects could be over.
The results are heartening and invite an expansion while at the same time carefully evaluating and analyzing the overall effect of the project. Were there any other factors in these schools that could have contributed to improved results? Did some of the 36 schools show meteoric improvements while some barely did better? Answers to these questions could help narrow down the factors that led to a rapid improvement in the results. More data would also be helpful. For instance, in relation to the 36 schools was there a knock-on effect on results in the other subject areas. Did the students who delivered the improved performance also do better in the other subjects having benefited from improved teaching and guides in Mathematics and English A which could have helped them to prepare better for other subjects. Could there have been a decline in their performance in other subjects as a result of the emphasis placed on Maths and English?
Similarly, were the overall results for the schools better or was there improvement only in these two subject areas? The concentration of resources and time in these two areas could have unwittingly taken away from effort in other areas.
Teachers from the pilot schools should also be interviewed in detail about the outcomes and their perspectives on what led to better results.
Are these special measures being implemented by Minister Manickchand applicable across the board and what will be the cost particularly in terms of scarce human resources? Would such an intervention be sustainable or in a couple of years results will slide again? If there is a positive follow through how can it be employed to produce better results not only in the range of subjects offered at CSEC but the quality of studentship and the employability of students on leaving school with only CSECs? Further, what about commensurate recognition of the role of teachers and the need to value their efforts and tangibly recognize them. Will the ministry now set about trying to implement lessons from this project in the lower forms of secondary schools?
Minister Manickchand and her officers should be applauded for this pilot and the public will now await its expansion and the results of next year’s exams.
