Chapter 2:

Our Children Are Our Future:

 Creating a World-Class Educational System

Baby who ah cry ah house and ah door ah same thing.

(All children, whether our own or another’s, are our responsibility.)

            Guyanese proverb

Our Children Are Our Future

s a child growing up in Essequibo and then Georgetown, when the education system was deemed to be one of the better in the Caribbean, my parents and teachers instilled in me the awareness that education will be my future.   I did not understand it then, but now I cherish those who taught me the key ingredients crucial to what I needed to know in order to be successful later in life.   I am grateful to my teachers for my success.

Education is as basic to Guyana’s future as any other factor that can be imagined.  Because our children are the future, we must give them the best education possible. Only that can free them from the bonds of the past—poverty, ignorance, incapability—and protect them from the traps of crime, hunger and despair.  

Our children must be assured of a sound, relevant education system tailored to meet the needs of a modern, progressive, technologically advancing nation. 

The Problems

t present, the hope that we place in our children is not matched by the education that we are giving them.  Guyana’s educational system is deplorable.  To describe it as one of the weakest in the Caribbean does not begin to communicate its impoverishment, obsolescence and inadequacy.  The schools that I attended in the 1970s still stand in place. Perhaps they have been painted over. But they have not been modernized for the twenty-first century. They are not providing our children with the tools necessary for them to survive in the new Age of Information and Knowledge.   Indeed, the figures are staggering:

 

!          Learning rates are at an all-time low.

!          Almost half of all teachers are unqualified and untrained.

!          Almost half of all teaching positions are vacant.

!          Chronic absenteeism—not only by students but by teachers as well—is widespread.

 

Nearly a third of all the children graduating from primary schools lack basic literacy skills. Among out-of-school youth, up to 90% operate below acceptable levels of functional literacy.

But the depressing roster of inadequacies does not stop there, for school buildings are dilapidated and textbooks and exercise books are in short supply.

Twenty-five years ago, Guyana’s educational system was the model to which all other countries in the region looked. What has happened to lead to this massive failure?

One major factor is the lack of money.  The government does not have the money to pay for teachers, maintain school buildings and acquire basic school supplies. And because families are poor, their children either work or supervise siblings.

A second factor is the antiquated structure of the school system. Because this system is a centralized, monopolistic bureaucracy, no employee’s job depends upon his or her performance. Without accountability, those in the school system have little incentive to achieve competence and positive results.

The result of these factors has been an unmitigated disaster that now threatens the future and well-being of our children.  And when our children fail, we fail. Our country fails. And our future fails.

But with the proper policies, with will, stamina and optimism, we can transform our educational system so that, as it was twenty-five years ago, it will again be the crown jewel of the Caribbean.

The School System

ortunately, much of the structure of the school system from past decades still stands.  With this as a basis on which to build, we can recreate an educated and vibrant Guyanese youth.

Let us take a look at the broad outline of Guyana’s school system.

Guyana provides free public education to all young people, from the age of three to early adulthood. More than 350 nursery schools offer a non-compulsory two-year early-childhood program. Primary schools then accept students from the age of five years and nine months, and provide a compulsory six-year program.

At the end of this program, students take a Secondary Schools Entrance Examination in order to proceed to the next level. Secondary education offers three types of programs: community high school, multi-lateral high school and general secondary school, with different levels of focus on vocational and academic studies.

Guyana also provides special education for children and adults with physical and mental handicaps, as well as programs that focus solely on vocational education.

Finally, a variety of post-high school educational opportunities are available, including teacher education, the University of Guyana, President’s College, and continuing education.

In all, Guyana has approximately 435 primary schools and 100 secondary, technical and teacher-training institutes.

Thus, we see that the framework of Guyana’s educational system already exists.  All we need do is to recreate and revitalize that form.  We must once again provide schools that give children a quality education, that teach them to think creatively, to take the initiative, to ask searching questions and to generate original solutions. In short, we must breathe the spirit of life back into our educational system.

On-Going Work

S

ome of the work that must be undertaken in order to revive Guyana’s moribund educational system has already begun.

For instance, a number of initiatives are underway to address the severe teacher shortage. The Basic Education Access and Management Support (BEAMS) project provides in-service training and develops accommodations for teachers in remote areas. Another initiative, the EFA-FTI proposal, devotes nearly US$5 million to training, supporting and creating housing for teachers in remote regions. In addition, the Education Strategic Plan for 2003–2007 is geared to building houses for teachers and improving their working environment.

Guyana’s two principal poverty programs, the Social Impact Amelioration Program and the Basic Needs Trust Fund, also support Guyana’s educational system.

Guyana is also making an effort to improve its budgeting practices and move to a program-based system (which will improve its ability to track program costs).

In addition, international bodies are supplying programs and funding to improve Guyana’s educational system. Under the Highly Indebted Poor Country program, money and expertise are made available to train new teachers, pay their salaries, build new school buildings, help educational systems respond to HIV/AIDS issues, augment teaching materials, provide teacher housing in remote areas, improve school feeding programs and establish improved education management and performance monitoring systems.

These programs have increased the number of teachers, particularly trained teachers, and increased the number of enrolled students.

An effort is also being made to provide families with the means to keep their children in school, such as providing them with primary health care, a school feeding program, and subsidized school uniforms.

All of this gives us hope. However, significant obstacles must be removed before Guyana’s educational system can become truly functional. For instance, an effective working relationship between government and unions must be created, adequate pay and benefits must be provided to qualified staff, and the public service bureaucracy must be reformed.

Guyanese have learned to weather the hard times.  We have hard times to weather still.  But we must cultivate hope and thus reap the harvest of deliverance.

Toward the Revival of Guyana’s Educational System

The Needs of Teachers

Education reform must, first and foremost, take into account the needs of teachers, for they are the engines of all educational reform.  And so, as we ask more of teachers, we must do more to help them.  We have to treat teachers like the professionals they are, empowering them to run their classrooms and play a stronger leadership role in the schools.   The equation is simple:

 

STRONG TEACHERS = STRONG SCHOOLS.

We must initiate strategies that will encourage the return of the many teachers who have quit their posts and that will attract new and capable teachers as well.

The following is an outline of strategies that we must employ to achieve these aims.

 

!          Salary

"          Increase salaries by 25% and grant teachers tax-free status. 

"          Provide bonuses commensurate with student performance.

"          Provide a package of financial incentives.

"          Provide hardship stipends.

 

!          Training

"          Provide on-going and increased teacher training.

"          Expand on-the-job and close-to-the-job training.

"          Reform teaching methodology to include greater access to InfoTech resources.

"          Overhaul teacher training institutions.

"          Make greater use of distance education modalities.

"          Recruit and train education personnel from within local communities, particularly in remote regions.

 

!          Teaching Conditions

"          To increase teachers’ job satisfaction, engage in creative use of assignment rotations, ultimately expanding to a National Guyanese Teacher Corps rotating on two-year assignments.

"          Provide new programs for teacher recognition.

 

Accountability

Educational reform must aim for a culture of excellence. In order to achieve this, schools must have clear, measurable goals focussed on basic skills and essential knowledge. In short, there must be an ethos of accountability. To achieve this, schools must institute the following modifications.

 

!          Quantifiable Standards of Performance:  Schools must have clear, measurable standards of performance, proficiency and competency.  Equally important, there must be regular testing and measurement to ensure that goals are met.

 

!          Meaningful Standards of Accountability for Policy:  Schools must have meaningful standards of accountability for policy regarding teachers, administrators, communities, and higher education and training institutions.

 

!          Management:  to reduce administrative burdens, adopt modern methods of management, including information technology.

 

Parents and Community

Public education’s customers—children, families and employers—have changed dramatically. Yet most schools still look and function as they did thirty years ago. A new system must be created in which our children are given the best education possible and schools and teachers are made directly accountable to parents.

 

!          Local Involvement

!          Establish local school boards and PTAs.

!          Increase and monitor student attendance, with strict penalties for parents.

!          Improve childcare for working parents.

!          Provide targeted education subsidies.

 

Physical Resources

Schools cannot reasonably be expected to function in their present state of disrepair and with a woeful lack of adequate schoolbooks and supplies.

 

!          The Physical Infrastructure

"          Continue restoring school buildings throughout the country.

"          Engage in on-going facilities management.

"          Make books and other school supplies available to students.

 

Soliciting Non-Public Aid

In order to lighten the burden on government of educational reform, non-governmental institutions, local and international, will be invited to participate.

 

!          Sources of Non-Public Assistance

"          Local businesses will be encouraged to develop summer internship programs.

"          Expand business sector sponsorship of schools, supplies and infrastructure.

"          Continue and expand the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI), in which several donors pledge to provide financial assistance in order to ensure that each child has access to a quality primary school education.

"          Ask faith-based organizations to assist in HIV and abstinence education. This was recently launched by the Minister of Health.

 

!          Private Schooling

"          Provide incentives to develop more private schools.

 

!          Centralization of Non-Public Aid Efforts

"          Incorporate disconnected donor-driven projects into one integrated whole, so that they all work together to promote a program of policy goals.

 

Twenty-First-Century Education

To help our students enter the world of the twenty-first century, we must prepare them with training in modern technologies. Such training must be regarded as a vital tool for survival.

Presently, Guyana is not producing a workforce geared toward the modern economy. This must become a primary goal of the education system: to provide the training and preparation for the next level of Guyanese economic recovery and success.

 

!          Technological Training

"          Introduce information technology from primary school and onwards.

"          Establish a detailed secondary education curriculum in computer science.

"          Establish technical training in specialized areas to prepare students for the workplace.

"          Implement an apprenticeship program in conjunction with a skills development service in order to guarantee that every Guyanese youth receives practical and marketable vocational skills.

 

Post-High School Education

Educational excellence must continue past secondary school and into the university and post-university levels.  A series of initiatives must be undertaken in order to meet this crucial goal.

 

!          Advanced Education

"          Construct technical training institutes in all counties.

"          Appoint a committee of educators to establish institutions of higher learning that meet the highest international standards.

"          Establish departments within universities to train experts in a wide range of disciplines: engineering, rocket science, medicine, writing in all fields, computer science/network, economy, banking, geology and marine biology, and so forth.

"          Initiate student exchange programs.

"          Subsidize post-graduate training at foreign universities, linked to a mandatory commitment to service in Guyana.

"          Provide universities linkage to the modern sectors through a Science and Technology Park, which will be a joint venture amongst the university, government, and local and foreign investors.

 

Special Needs

A true educational initiative addresses students on every part of the educational continuum: from the brightest to the most challenged.  Guyana’s education system must bring all Guyanese youth to their greatest potential.

 

!          Special Education

"          Provide special attention to students with physical and other disabilities.

"          Mainstream them so that they may partake of optimal educational opportunities.

 

The Guyanese educational system must also help youth who have opted out of the system. These young people, otherwise destined for poverty and failure, must be brought back into educational programs.

 

!          Out-of-School Youth

"          Provide second-chance training to provide these youths with the skills needed to engage in employment and small business activities.

"          Establish degree equivalency programs to allow re-entry into the educational system.

"          Establish such programs particularly in the most deprived socio-economic areas.

 

Physical Activities

An intrinsic part of a healthy upbringing is a healthy body, and this must be integrated into the educational curriculum.

 

!          Physical Education

"          Reform and revitalize physical education, sports and co-curricula in our schools.

"          Encourage wellness curricula that include lifetime sports and fitness activities.

Conclusion

he proper education of our youth is crucial to the future of Guyana. If they are illiterate, under-trained and neglected, then Guyana will be correspondingly backward, poverty-stricken and without the means to emerge from its crisis.  But when we teach them to think, to read and write, to master the technologies of the twenty-first century and to operate according to the rules that characterize successful nations, then Guyana will correspondingly be a bright, competitive and capable society. 

It may be hard to see this promise when we look at the difficulties of the moment.  But just as countries in crisis with antiquated markets, technologies and cultures, such as Japan, have successfully launched themselves to the forefront of the world’s economies, so can Guyana, despite its present handicaps, become a leading light within the Caribbean and beyond.

I challenge all my fellow parents to stand up and demand that a Government not break any promise regarding our children’s education.  I issue a further challenge to my fellow-parents to join me to help the government and all parties create a new educational charter for the nation with clear results for skills, knowledge, and opportunity for the future generation.