What is needed are more tradesmen

THE EDITOR: This country has now reached a stage that is unmanageable. Unemployment and crime are the order of the day. Both the PNM and the UNC are responsible for this. Our education system of Junior Secondary schools has proven to be a disaster. Universal Secondary education will be a greater disaster. More than half of the children attending Secondary schools should not be there. All the children are not inclined to be academics. We do not need any more Secondary schools. Half of those we already have should be converted to Post Primary and Trade Schools.

Children who are not academically inclined should be taught to read, write and count, and should be provided with a skill. After all is said and done education was intended to be converted into cash to provide the individual with a livelihood. A country needs four times more tradesmen and tradeswomen than academics. If we continue the present education system what we are doing is creating more unemployment and criminals in the future.  Children who pass through the Secondary school system and have proven to be failures find it difficult to resort back to a trade to provide themselves with a livelihood.

FIZIE SULIMAN
Princes Town