Dear Editor,
Why replace the old Christ Church Secondary School instead of building a vocational school for teaching information technologies including coding, programming and 3D printing? Build a modern vocational school instead of replacing Christ Church Secondary School. In an era of commoditization of knowledge as a result of the internet, including access to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), such a school would be capable of providing remote learning primarily to the student population residing in the interior regions.
The new school will primarily serve those students that have the aptitude for practical training as opposed to cramming for Grade Ones at CXC exams, which the questions are sometimes leaked. For example, at the final year or two of secondary school, students will have a choice to take CXCs or apply to the School for Information Technology. My nephew at 4 was a wizard with a tablet computer, he even conducted online purchases resulting in rebuke from his parents. I say they were being hypocritical since they choose to have their credit card information stored on the tablet for their convenience. My nephew is now 12 years old and is only stimulated by his smartphone, from which he gets his vast knowledge of information to efficiently survive and enjoy life.
I suggest Guyana dump the British education system and adopt the German system where the secondary education system is separated into two parts, lower and upper. Germany’s secondary lower education is meant to teach individuals basic general education and gets them ready to enter upper secondary education, which has a vast variety of vocational programs – designed for individuals to learn advanced skills for specific professions, including clean energy. I am cognizant that shifting to the German model would require teachers to significantly upskill to the modern era. The unions shouldn’t worry too much because their membership should grow materially since it is most likely folks from the private sector would enter the profession without the added burden of going through teachers college because they would have already possess the requisite skills and knowledge to teach coding, programing and 3D printing.
Lastly, why build one school on the property if the contract is with seven contractors that can build a few smaller specialized schools? Online polls are easy to conduct so I suggest Stabroek News design one to get feedback from parents and students via smartphones. Results should be available to the public free of charge.
Sincerely,
Keith Bernard
