Revise syllabus to save children

Parents and children are under immense stress from day one.

One of the major issues with the SE A examination is the content of the material to be studied. During my 18 years of teaching mathematics at the secondary school level, I never encountered some of the mathematical terms that 10 and 11-year olds were being forced to learn; I had to resort to the dictionary to find some of those definitions.

I was also totally amazed to see that some of the topics I was teaching students of Forms 1, 2 and 3 were also being taught at Standards 4 and 5. This syllabus is much too onerous for little children.

This could be one of the reasons for the high dropout rate of children in our schools — the material is too burdensome. It is particularly difficult for those children who have no one who can help them with their homework. Such children will inevitably fall through the cracks. Could this have contributed to our high crime rate? In many cases, children are promoted from one class to a another simply because of their ages rather than because they have mastered the abilities required in those classes.

The initial solution would be to have remedial classes for the children who are not doing as well as their peers. This, however, is a challenge due to our existing system.

Additionally, a lot of children study just to pass the exam — they do not understand what they are doing. As a result, when they go to secondary school, there is a lot of material they have to “unlearn” before learning how to do it other than by rote.

It is my humble opinion that the syllabus needs to be revised so that more children can become achievers and acquire a feeling of selfworth if we are to save our children.

JENNY SINGH via email