A primary school head teacher from Region Three created a buzz at a seminar held on Tuesday when he announced his desire to have a cash crop farm, a recycling facility and a modern laboratory at his school. His wish list, made after the head teachers gathered at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre for the ‘Educational Leaders as Agents of Change’ seminar were asked to articulate their visions for their schools, was well supported by his peers. Whether or not it will be made a reality is left to be seen, but it would be a shame if it isn’t.
Traditionally, children at the primary level in local public schools are exposed to mostly what was originally referred to as the 3 Rs – reading (w)riting and (a)rithmetic along with perhaps one session a week of physical education, as per the schools’ curriculum. Their involvement in sports is limited to competing in the annual school activity and thereafter, if they show particular promise, the inter-school sports hosted by the Ministry of Education. Any other sporting events they are involved in would have come about because their parents enrolled them in clubs—outside of school. Farming, recycling and lab work as visualized by the Region Three head teacher are unheard of.
As a matter of fact, it seemed at one time that the only reason children went to primary school was to prepare for the dreaded ‘Common Entrance’ examination, which was later changed to the Secondary Schools Entrance Examination or SSEE, a change in name only. It was still the same examination of the academic prowess of 10, 11 and 12 year olds, which saw those who were naturally brilliant and those who learned to cram elevated to the top high schools in the country. These accounted for less than one per cent of the thousands of pupils who wrote the examination. Another few thousand with middling marks were able to gain entry to the other fairly decent secondary schools, but the focus was never on them. Nor was it, unfortunately, on the thousands of others who after six years of primary level education were unable to competently perform any of the 3 Rs. This group was the largest and many of the children in it were placed in the vocational/technical education based community high schools, which were opened in the ʼ70s.
These community high schools have since been phased out and replaced with secondary and high schools, after the SSEE was replaced by the National Grade Assessments.
Chief Education Officer Olato Sam’s admission at that same seminar that he is troubled by the overall output of the country’s education system despite indicators which suggest that it is improving, is not at all surprising. Nor is it surprising that he casts the blame solely on the teachers. But while some teachers are part of the problem, it must be noted that they too are products of the same failing education system and products of this society. Aside from which, they can only work with the curricula they are given.
There is need for a change in the system which seems tailored to produce failure, but instituting new examinations and setting higher academic standards when the foundation is not solid is not the way to go.
A look at schools in the developed world, as well as some private schools in Guyana, will reveal that the ones that consistently turn out rounded, brilliant students go beyond academics in the delivery of education; many have strong arts and sports programmes. Thus the head teacher from Region Three has the right attitude and demonstrates the quality educational leadership that is the theme of Education Month. His wish list hints at the making of a self-sustaining school where children will be exposed to much of what they are expected to do at the secondary level, at an earlier age.
Such schools should be more than wishes in Guyana, they should be goals. It is only when the teaching by rote is finally and permanently relegated to the history books that we will have the quality education that is still out of reach of too many of our children.
