That horrible 30 per cent

After all, we are talking about 12 per cent of the 18,357 who wrote the SEA. This means that over one out of every ten children didn’t cross 30 per cent, while, on the other hand, 13 per cent of those who wrote the SEA got over 90 per cent.

There are five serious issues here.

(1) While we know not all students will gain high marks, for an educational system to have such a significant proportion getting below 30 per cent in an examination with Mathematics, English Language and Creative Writing, it raises the issue of basic numeracy and literacy, especially since within this 30 per cent, many students, worse yet, get 10 per cent or less.

If you can’t read, write or do simple calculations at Standard Five, something seriously went wrong.

So this is not only about getting into a prestige school or not. This is more fundamentally about basic everyday coping. And in fact, regarding the United Nations Declaration on Children Rights, there is some injustice here.

(2) Given the academic demands at Form One in secondary school, this “30 per cent or less” group will find it a nightmare to move into Form One. Their frustration will grow, their self-esteem will be damaged, and their career pathway in serious jeopardy, unless sustainable remedial action is not properly and swiftly taken. There is also the concern of early stigmatisation. No doubt, this is of great worry to Education Ministers Anthony Garcia and Dr Lovell Francis. Mr Garcia pledged to two remedial options: one, to repeat the SEA with closer supervision, two, to proceed to secondary school with remedial teaching.

(3) Given the serious implications of educational inequity, and the responsibility to decrease the possibility of this 30 per cent horror happening again, the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association and the Ministry of Education should collaborate in inquiring more deeply as to the causes behind this 30 per cent shocker. Is it the school, the teachers, parents or is that the affected children preferred doing something else? Is it some inherent psychological or physical challenge? Is it some or all of these? (4) It sounds nice to hear that a higher proportion of SEA students scored over 90 per cent this year compared to last year. However, that does not necessarily mean that more students will get into their school of choice (prestige). The places at the choice schools remain fairly constant, the same. There is bad news too. That is, this “below 30 per cent” group has always been a relatively large group over the years. For example, in 2009, it was 11 per cent (1973 students).

In 2013, it was nine per cent (1602 students). This year, 2017, it is 12 per cent (2170 students). Was any tracing oversight done to find out what happened, how these “below 30 per cent” students fared when placed in secondary school? Will that be done now? (5) Having 12 per cent of students making less than 30 per cent in the SEA does look horrible. A lot of tears here. Furthermore, when you look inside the numbers, you will find year after year, about 70 per cent of those falling below 30 per cent in the SEA are boys, while it is about 30 per cent of the girls falling below the 30 per cent mark.

So all in all, an educator’s insight would tell you that here is where a lot of the society’s socio-economic inequity begins. And quite likely ending up in crime and prison.

The vast majority of the “below 30 per cent” group are boys who, without friendly, restorative remedies would find secondary schooling quite frustrating. Their drift into anti-social behaviour would be quite tempting. In fact, our research found that almost all the young people now in prison and juvenile homes have been school dropouts or had incomplete schooling (Deosaran. Inequality, Crime and Education: Removing the Masks, 2016) All this amounts to one example of how the educational system of a post-colonial society unwittingly promotes social inequity, and leaves the doors open for youth deviance.

Serious collaborative action is urgently required to prevent this horror and its deleterious consequences