On 6 October 2016, Stabroek News published an article ‘Cabinet deeply perturbed at Grade Six math results’, the content of which, if true, has certainly taken official education reporting to a new low, and this is magnified by the hackneyed solutions to the problem that are proffered. How could anyone, much less the cabinet, claim that a situation of ‘extreme urgency and grave national importance’ exists without at the very least properly describing for stakeholders what that situation is?
Furthermore, I looked in vain at the suggested solutions emanating from the cabinet to try and glean the nature of the ‘crisis’, only to find the commonplace. ‘Those steps would include remedial training of teachers, better and more varied text books, more teaching aids and better use of technology in the delivery of education.’ And according to the minister of education, he would ‘like to see a little bit more concentration, more work and I would like to see teachers in the classrooms, really ensuring that their curriculums are delivered and received by the students and above all, I want to really lift the level of the
