SEA raises issues

Universal secondary education in Trinidad and Tobago proves the truth of a Confucian saying — that the right thing done for the wrong reason is the wrong thing. It was under the United National Congress administration that then-Prime Minister Basdeo Panday announced that every child would be placed in a secondary school. This was entirely laudable except that, in their haste to get political mileage out of this new policy, the UNC government under its Education Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar engaged in a mad rush to find any sort of accommodation to house these students, with out any concern as to whether they would be able to cope with the secondary school curriculum.

Recently, however, a Ministry of Education official announced that the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination is to be reviewed. Schools Supervisor Seelochan Roopnarine, speaking at a function at the bpTT Mayaro Resource Centre to honour SEA award winners from the Mayaro/Rio Claro district, observed that there were students who had made just three or even zero marks in the examination, but who were still placed in secondary schools. This can hardly be a new phenomenon, and the Education Ministry has taken far too long to get around to even realising that a problem exists. We only hope that Minister Hazel Manning will make this review a top priority, because what is happening now is essentially abuse of those children who are in the greatest need of a good education.

“Some pupils are very intelligent and are very much prepared for the exams, while others are slow and may need a little push,” said Mr Roopnarine, adding that every child has the ability to learn. There are two issues here. The first is whether our primary school system is meeting the needs of the average student, instead of catering mainly to those students who are naturally “bright” and whose parent shave the wherewithal for extra lessons. This question raises the issue of the SEA exam itself — should an 11-year-old be writing such an exam at all? Does it not place undue stress on the child and does it not skew the teaching at primary school to passing the exam, rather than giving the child a solid educational grounding? Given the small percentage of children who score in the highest ranks, it seems likely that the primary school system needs significant revamping.

The second issue is testing children’s cognitive abilities. There are undoubtedly intelligent students who are doing badly in school simply because they do not see or hear properly. Studies in other countries suggest that there is always a significant number of children who, once these problems are detected and remedied, will be able to cope with schoolwork. But, too often in our system, a child who cannot see the blackboard properly, who cannot hear the teacher, who has difficulties reading because of dyslexia — too often, these children are dismissed as stupid or recalcitrant. And, let us make no mistake, it is often these same children — especially the boys — who become bandits and murderers in their later years.

The Education Ministry has begun a pilot survey to test children with learning difficulties, and we hope this project will be expanded. In the meantime, the Ministry must certainly put in place remedial classes for those children who need help with the basics of reading, writing, and calculating. If the students don’t have these fundamental skills, then secondary school can only mean five years of frustration for them.