| By Lance HindsIt is once again that time of the year when I get to marvel at my friends’ children, my young mentees and others who reached even more dizzying heights at the CSEC and CAPE examinations.It seems like only yesterday we were amazed that children were taking on average 10 subjects at one exam sitting.That of course, has now become standard fare.My happiness at these exceptional performances, however, is somewhat tempered when I read the report of us still getting under 50% passes in Maths and Science.It is 2015 and this state of affairs still persists, with education officials advising us that there has been some improvement by 2 or 3 percentage points in Mathematics, but they are disappointed in the results in the Sciences.In the knowledge economy that we hope to build, it is critical that employees are strong in the abovementioned subject areas. It would be good,Wholesale NFL Jerseys Authentic, therefore, if along with the results, we can gain an understanding of the current nature of the problem.For example, was there a specific initiative that caused the improvement in Mathematics from 28% in 2013 to 45% in 2015?If so,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, what was the nature of that initiative? Does it have targets, and if so, when does the Ministry of Education expect within reason that our results can rise to over 50% and even further above?Similar questions also apply to the Science subjects. Are there still challenges with lack of equipment? Lack of teachers?Guyana, of course, is not the only country in the Caribbean with this challenge. The standards in other territories, however,Wholesale Jerseys From China, are slightly higher.In Jamaica, the performance in Mathematics improved to 62%, some seven percentage points higher than last year.The Ministry of Education is concerned, however, in the drop in performance in the Science subjects to an average of 65%. In response to this, the Ministry of Education has announced that it will provide 100 scholarships and bursaries to teacher trainees specialising in Mathematics and Science.This initiative to address the shortage of qualified Mathematics and Science teachers in the education system, is open to individuals pursuing the Bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education in Mathematics, Physics,NFL Jerseys China, Chemistry and Biology. Trinidad and Tobago also showed significant improvement this year with performances in Mathematics and Science in the mid-sixties.The Minister of Education declared that student performances at CSEC and CAPE this June were “the best ever” There was however a slight decline in specific subject areas like Human and Social Biology and Integrated Science.But back to Guyana. It would also be interesting to see the performance breakdown within the Grades I and Grade III range.In Trinidad for example, fifteen percent of the entries received Grade I, 16 percent achieved Grade II and 32 percent achieved Grade III. I suspect we have similar trends in Guyana, with the greater percentage of students in the Grade III range. This now triggers some other questions about student performance in Mathematics in 2015. Where did the 6,247 (49.56%) come from?I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the majority of Grade I and IIs would have come from the likes of Queen’s College, Bishops’ High School (who reported overall pass rates in the high 90s), President’s College and the private schools. Rural government schools such as Anna Regina Secondary would also be in that category.I suspect that with some elementary calculations we are looking at Grade I and II scores possibly being no more than 25% of the overall passes in Mathematics.In the 2015 budget the government has allocated G$31 billion, or 14.8% of the budget, towards the education sector.It would be interesting to examine the budget estimates to get an idea of how these funds are going to be applied as regards the improvement of performance in Mathematics and Science.The Jamaica initiative is certainly worthy of consideration. In his budget speech the Minister of Finance referred to the use distance learning and online course offerings as tools of teaching and learning within the education sector. This to me is the classic case of the mountain coming to Mohammed.The establishment of a national online learning network will allow students in the rural and hinterland areas access to the better teachers in Georgetown and the coastal areas. Performance metrics and value for money assessments must be implemented to ensure that these strategies are impactful.Let me be clear that this is not an attack on the current education sector.The 2015 results show significant and commendable improvement in the majority of the subjects taken.Improved performance in Mathematics and Science, however, is critical to this nation’s development in this fast-paced, highly demanding 21st century environment. The creative and sustained introduction of Science,Marlon Humphrey Jersey, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) methodologies is fundamental to this effort. Dr. Cardinal Warde, Executive Director of the Caribbean Science Foundation, makes the following point:‘We must create an army of knowledge workers. We are not advocating that everyone becomes a scientist or an entrepreneur,Cheap NHL Jerseys, but science and technology popularization is necessary to educate the population at large so that they can understand and support the new economic development paradigm”The paradigm to which Dr. Warde refers is one where the increased capacity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics can be used to develop the pathways for the economic development of Guyana and Caribbean as a whole. It is within this context, therefore, that the disaggregation of the data provided would be useful, so that other stakeholders could evaluate and even see where, as interested parties, they can provide the relevant assistance.Lance Hinds is the current President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of the BrainStreet Group, an ICT consulting and information services company. |
