Ministry of Education holds consultations on aspects of secondary education

Thanks to the GINA Government website for this article 1st December 2008

Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh stressed the importance of consultations today during a meeting the Ministry of Education held with stakeholders to consult on some issues of secondary education in Guyana. Minister Baksh noted that the Education Ministry views consultations with stakeholders as critical in moving the education system forward. The Minister said that today’s consultations deals with four major issues relating to the secondary curriculum. Chief Education Officer (ag) Genevieve Whytenedd, said that “effective school administrators constantly restructure, refashion, remodel, and re-evaluate whatever they are doing because the education is so dynamic and always changing…Because our country is so diverse we are here to sit to work together and see if whatever we are doing is working.”

The four major issues discussed during the consultations comprised several questions relating to secondary education.

The first set of questions addressed under the first issue were:

- Should there be a limit on the number of subjects to be taken at grades 7,8, and 9?,
- Should English Literature be a compulsory subject at Grades 7,8 and 9?,
- On placing students in different streams after Grade 9, should there be a limit on the number of subjects to be taught at Grades 10 and 11 for the CSEC,
- Should Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) be a discrete and time-tabled subject at each Grade and be extended to include moral education?

The second issue dealt with:

- Should Advanced level examinations be discontinued and all students be taught for CAPE?, - --- Should there be a limit to the number of subjects to be taken by students entering to write CAPE
- Should there be compulsory subjects to be taken by students entering to write CAPE?

The third issue addressed included these questions:

- Currently, each sixth form school attempts to offer the full range of subjects at the sixth level; what changes would you propose under the review which will maximize limited resource
- Should a sixth form college be established in Guyana?

Issue four dealt with:

What are your views on changing the school hours to commence from 8:00h?

In relation to limiting the number of subjects offered at CAPE exams, Minister Baksh said that an analysis was done on two schools which revealed that while very few subjects attracted great numbers of writers, most attracted poor numbers of students.

He pointed out that resources are required to set off these exams. During the interactive sessions, many participants shared their views on the questions proposed. The majority of those present were against the proposals. Students also answered most of the questions in the negative.Apart from students, the consultation was attended by District Education Officers, representatives of school Boards, Headteachers, Deputy Headteachers, and officials from the Ministry of Education.