To suggest that the general orientation of universal secondary education neglect poor learners is wrong

Apr 07, 2010 Letters

---

Dear Editor,
There is little doubt that one of the major problems that have faced Guyana over the past decades has been the enormous waste of human resources that results from our education system and identified in your Editorial (“15,000 semi literates each year” Kaieteur News: 01/04/10).
As you suggested, the impact of this waste is in many ways deleterious to our society and there certainly should be moral outrage that we appear unable to provide sensible, systematic and continuous opportunities to allow all our people to attain the good life. However, I take issue with your claim that: “It is not that the problem of failure at this examination that affords entry into secondary schools is something new. It was for this reason that there were multilateral schools and community high schools. These have been converted to secondary schools to cater for the better learners so that the poor ones are condemned to the garbage pile.”
As you indicated, it is now commonplace that on any given day, there are hundreds of thousands of unqualified and incidentally trained persons seeking to make a good living. However, although it is undoubtedly true that for some time large numbers of persons have been badly left behind, it is wrong to suggest that the general orientation of universal secondary education, as it now stands, is to neglect poor learners.
In 1994, Professor Z. Jennings noted that “the majority of young Guyanese adults 14-25 years of age are functionally illiterate” and for much longer than that, the managers of the education system have recognised the problem you have identified, have known the solution and, given the resources at their disposal, have been trying to address it. Other variables (the general quality of education, the need for greater parental involvement, better systems management, etc.) aside, conceptually, the answer to the overall problem is quite simple. It is to make schooling more meaningful, productive and universal and simultaneously to create an informal education structure to systematically mop-up those who are now untrained.
Firstly, it is well understood that to severely reduce the number of persons leaving the school system without some marketable qualification requires a formal education system that caters for all abilities and alternative pathways to success. Of course, the basic subjects of the traditional curriculum (English, mathematics, languages, etc.) remain essential, but the concept of a general education must include the arts and technical and vocational subjects. The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation and International Labour Organisation recommendation on “Technical and Vocational Education and Training for the Twenty-first Century” contends that technical and vocational education must be understood to be an integral part of general education. (UNESCO/ILO, 2002.) Of course, it is not simple a matter of having these subjects in the general curriculum; alternative pathways must cater to both the academically and non-academically inclined.
Thus, in 2005, the Ministry established the Basic Competency Certificate Programme (BCCP), which was intended as a 12 to 18 months competency-based programme that secondary students were to complete at about age 15 to gain a Level 1 National Vocational Qualification in the given area. These national qualifications were to be based upon Caribbean Vocational Qualifications, which have been established according to international standards. A Level 1 qualification creates a semi-skilled operative and therefore was to be a basis of further training and/or employment. The BCCP was to be delivered via the Practical Instruction Centres and the technical and vocational departments of secondary schools. The aim was to create a meaningful environment of learning which catered for the individual’s specific talents at the same time as it provided a relatively simple but marketable qualification that is the basis for continuing education and if necessary, work.
Indeed, Guyana had been a firm supporter of the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence, which seeks to prepare students for the world of work and offers opportunity for articulation with technical and vocational subjects.
Secondly, for those out of school, the Practical Instruction Centres, the technical and vocational departments of secondary schools and other available technical facilities and their staff were to be utilised in the evenings and at weekends, throughout the country, to deliver a, one year Skills for Life (SFL) programme based on the BCCP and providing a similar Level 1 certification. The first SFL programme began at the Beterverwagting PIC in 2006 and the plan was to universalise the programme to train about 4,000 persons a year.
Finally, while the above arrangements were viewed as the contribution of the formal education system to the general problem, inputs were also expected from other public sector agencies, such as the Board of Industrial Training and the private sector.
To contribute to making all training as meaningful as possible, it was recognised that a sensible level of standard-setting and articulation would be necessary.
Thus in 2004, Parliament passed laws to establish the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Council and a National Accreditation Council.
The former was to ensure that a comprehensive system of technical and vocational education and training exists in Guyana; establish, develop and monitor schemes for the training of crafts persons, technicians and engineers; develop and implement a national system of competency-based modularised training; expand the scope of industrial training within industry and monitor and evaluate the delivery of all programmes.
In a similar vein, the National Accreditation Council has the responsibility of setting standards for qualifications in tertiary education and training institutions; establishing accreditation criteria and procedures for various levels of certification; ascertaining the equivalency of national and international certifications; reviewing all cases concerned with accreditation or equivalency referred to it; protecting the interest of students; collaborating with the Government and other agencies to develop our human resources and promote the free movement of skills and knowledge within the Caribbean Community.
Changes and improvements in conceptualisation and implementation may have taken place but in a nutshell, my understanding is that what has been outlined above constitutes the general approach of the education system.
However, it does not take much to see that, given its magnitude, significantly greater resources and focus are required if this problem is to be urgently solved.
Herein lies the difficulty: sensibly tackling this enormous human wastage is a matter of national resource prioritisation, and this requires considerable political will and commitment.
Henry B. Jeffrey

---

---