Dear Editor,
I just looked through “The Atlantic Reader Book One” online. We meet Suzy, Kurt, Jane Cato, Marty, and a Seeta was thrown into that mix for good measure – and to represent the Indian community, the largest minority group in Guyana? We read of the “happy time” of Christmas to celebrate “the birth of Jesus Christ”. The characters also celebrate Mash-ramani, and I will withhold any comments on the completely false account of what this “national celebration” actually is. Are our children being taught to see vulgarity as “a joy to watch”? We then go on to celebrate Phagwah with some descriptions of that celebration. Here we meet Rajiv and Rena, but it is “Suzy and Marty” who “called their neighbours Rajiv and Rena to play”, I suppose because Suzy and Marty are the main characters while Rajiv and Rena are kept properly, according to the writers of this text, in their proper ethnic enclave. Coming as I do, from a Muslim home and part of some 10 percent of the population, I was surprised to find no cartoon figures, photographs, text, or festivals to present the Muslim community to our children reading Book One.
There are several Islamic schools throughout Guyana. What happens to these pupils’ psyche, when they find themselves marginalised and made invisible in this reader? When our youngest pupils, who are not Muslims, see someone in a hijab, or hear about Eid or the Holy Prophet Mohammed, what then is their reference point? Are Muslims aliens? Thus, are prejudices born out of misunderstanding, and even fear of an unknown? I want to believe that our First Peoples might also have issues with these readers. Nowhere in Book One do children of our nations of First Peoples see themselves represented. If you are going to go down the route of presenting national holidays and celebrations, then all groups must be represented. This is not an area that can be cherry-picked.
A healthy meal is presented as baked fish with tomatoes and carrots. Isn’t cook-up healthy? Isn’t rice, dhal and bhajee healthy? Roti and curried fish/chicken with a salad? How about a chicken chowmein cooked with bora and bhajee? I am reminded of my school days, when we were presented with English children on picnics, eating apples and grapes. Local dishes can be prepared in healthy ways but that, perhaps, is a lesson for the cooks in our homes. Are our youngest children still to be presented with school texts that are fantastical and divorced from their everyday reality? I have only looked at Book One and I was not looking for negative criticisms. I really wanted to believe that so many years have passed with so many national discourses on respecting our nation’s diversity, that the writers of this crucial text that introduces our children to their neighbours, would have understood the seriousness of this task, and would have been sensitive and intelligent in its execution.
Here are the educators responsible as listed in Book One: Liza Ryce, B.Ed, Headteacher-Roxanne Burn-ham Garden Nursery School; Verina Layne-Woolford B.Ed, Retired Headteacher-Craig Primary School, Literacy Consultant; Rekha Mohabir B.Ed, Regional Literacy Coordinator, Department of Education, Region #3; Samantha Williams M. Ed., Assistant Chief Education Officer Nursery. The editors listed are: Hazel Moses, Children’s Author; Bonita Hunter MBA, M.Sc., Lecturer, University of Guyana; Dana Waithe, B. Ed., Subject Specialist-Nursery Unity, National Centre for Educational Resource Development; Jennifer Cumberbatch M.Ed., Retired Director, National Centre for Education Resource Development, Ministry of Education-Guyana. They worked under the supervision and guidance of Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson, and Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, praises the team as “the brightest, most seasoned and progressive literacy experts in Guyana”.
I cannot comment on the technical aspects of the text and whether it would be good or bad, in teaching literacy to our youngest children. They learn at this age through pictures and good story-telling, and this particular reader fails to present Guyana’s peoples to them in a truthful and fully representative manner.
Sincerely,
Ryhaan Shah
