Literacy among students remains one of the biggest problems plaguing the education sector leading to disparity in academic performance and examination results and Education Minister Priya Manickchand said schools across the nation will soon benefit from enhanced literacy programmes to curb the issue.
“We believe once we are able to change the way children read and comprehend, we are going to change whether they want to stay in school and when they stay in school how they perform,” Manickchand said.
Her comments came in response to a question from the Stabroek News, at the presentation of the National Grade Six Assessment results last week, on what is being done to ensure that those who perform poorly benefit significantly in secondary school and do not drop out.
Critics have said top students continue to be celebrated at every announcement of results while little is being done to change the situation for those who perform poorly.
Although she acknowledged that literacy was the main problem in the delivery of education, Manickchand stressed that she will not stop the highlighting of students who excelled as their hard work should be celebrated.
Nonetheless, she also admitted that poor performance at exams by children, who are not able to cope with standards the education sector is looking for, is no fault of theirs.
“The main problem with children being unable to cope with papers and their work is in their literacy level that has been studied and determined by us. We are sure about that except for children with learning difficulties,” the minister pointed out before announcing that from September they will be rolling out a new literacy programme across the country.
Students who sat this year’s exams were subjected to the COVID-19 pandemic at a critical stage where they were now grasping the concept of foundational literacy and numeracy. The minister said during this time, they had to find innovative and creative ways to build on the foundation of the children to prevent what was gained from being lost.
She stressed the ministry delivered learning packages and aired lessons via television for students to be active and continue to learn in the pandemic.
She went on to state her ministry is working to curb this issue and has created an entire literacy department and appointed another Assistant Chief Education Officer to specifically handle literacy across the nation.
This publication understands the programme will target 15,000 primary and nursery school teachers to be trained in literacy.
At the secondary school level, Manickchand announced, from September every stream must be able to offer subjects beyond the traditional academic curriculum.
She explained the ministry is aiming to introduce a new curriculum where at least one sport, one musical instrument, one foreign language and a TVET subject is taught to students. She stated they will also encourage students to engage in volunteering, allowing them to leave school rounded and with a strong sense of volunteerism.
“We want to diversify what we offer. It is not going to be just the traditional academic subjects we are trying to cater to the needs of the country that are arising and the interest of children. We are tweaking [the curriculum] where every stream must offer IT and EDPM. We are looking from very early, from first form, where children will want to stream off into a variety of different things we are doing to improve secondary education,” she detailed.
Additionally, with children experiencing learning difficulties the minister said a collaboration with the Ministry of Health would see all primary school children screened for health issues and early identification of learning disabilities.
Hinterland performance
Turning her attention to the hinterland students’ performance, Manickchand explained this year’s results continues to illustrate a gap between the coast and the hinterland.
“Performance in the hinterland continues to not measure up to the performance on the coast… for a variety of reasons. We have not been able to catch the gap there,” she said in response to a question.
The minister stressed however, that the ministry is striving to achieve a goal of having all teachers in the system trained by 2025. This will allow students to have better access to the type of education they access in the hinterland.
The minister had also indicated that they have been investing in expanding the learning channel reach and installing televisions at schools in the hinterland to bridge the learning gap.
While addressing the top performing students, education officials and stakeholders at the examination results ceremony, the minister emphasised on the initiatives her ministry is taking to ensure students have an equal opportunity across the country.
According to Manickchand, investments in the sector have demonstrated and produced positive results, “we’re convinced of that so we won’t stop investing in our children.”
In this regard she pointed out that while they have expanded the capacity of top national schools allowing them to place more students in classrooms, the ultimate goal is to create an equal access to education opportunity.
Following this year’s exam, Manickchand announced, 860 students are being placed in the top national schools as opposed to 738 in 2019.
“I wanted to say this, for all the children watching particularly, if we could have placed 1,000 children in first form or grade seven at Queen’s College… all the children who are going to the Grade ‘A’ list schools could have ended up at Queen’s College if we had the capacity because you have the ability and we know if we put you in any school you’ll do well,” she said.
She said the choices of students should not be limited by geographic location or which school they attain and they should have access to the same quality of teachers to guide and mould their skills and talents.
“Our commitment to you is that there will be the same service in all the schools. Our monitoring from the Education Departments in the country will apply, to effectively make sure all the services reach you and do not disappear after the placement of this exam,” the minister said.
She told the students, their whole lives were ahead of them and they were living in really exciting times in the country.
“There are [going to be] many, many, many opportunities in different fields in different areas and your schooling is going to prepare you for participation in a meaningful way,” she related.
