As the school year looms just over two weeks away, weighty decisions are in the hands of education authorities.
Students, parents and teachers are waiting with bated breath to hear whether there will be a full return to classrooms especially in light of the recent removal of several COVID-19 restrictions including the three-feet distancing rule.
When one considers that the country has been moving on with a return to various public gatherings and the like, a full return to face-to-face instruction with all the necessary precautions is not farfetched.
But that’s only one challenge.
The bigger one, we fairly suspect will be settling children back into classrooms and attending to the learning deficits that experts warned us have widened over the last two years of COVID-19 disruptions.
It will not be enough to return schools to business as usual.
The past two years have been turbulent and difficult for the majority of students across all age groups.
Teachers will be under pressure to settle in students transitioning from primary to secondary schools, students moving up to new classes and of course, those entering the education system for the first time.
Teachers will need all the support they can get to recover that lost ground. They, in turn, will need to do all they can to bridge the yawning gaps in performance.
Back in June, officials from the World Bank, the Inter-American Dialogue, UNESCO and UNICEF at a virtual discussion, My Education, Our Future called for urgent and coordinated action to ensure that an entire generation of children get back on track academically.
Jean Gough, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, urged all countries in the region to turn commitments into action.
He said: “While many schools have now reopened their doors, the learning crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean is far from over; it’s just less visible than before.
“It’s not just a few students, but millions at risk of falling behind. Small-scale learning recovery programmes won’t be enough. To address the crisis, we need to develop and implement large-scale learning recovery systems. We can invest now or leave an entire generation behind. The choice is ours.”
We are aware that Director of Education Reform Dr Idamay Denny earlier this year outlined some of the ministry ‘s plans to deal with children who have fallen through the cracks, including a possible two more years in school for those students who need to. The ministry has also spearheaded remedial classes.
This is a good start but authorities must update us on the action plan to bring students up to par this new year. What systems are in place to monitor and assist those who have fallen behind? What are the plans to ensure parents are fully engaged in the process?
The changes are critical, considering the performance of this year’s Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination and the results of this year’s Caribbean Examination Council’s (CXC) exams which were released on Monday.
According to CXC’s Director of Operations, Dr Nicole Manning, the results are mixed. She reported declines in the overall performances of candidates in 11 of the 23 subject areas.
CXC Registrar Dr Wayne Wesley sounded the alarm that too many students are leaving school empty-handed.
He said: “We are concerned that there are a great number of students leaving the education system without certification,” noting that the CXC had developed its Citizenship and Technical Education Certificate (CTEC), geared towards inculcating strong moral character and life technical skills that will equip graduates with the skills necessary to perform in society.
Every child deserves a real chance at educational success. Nothing but partnership, innovation, adaptability and quantifiable effort will ensure opportunity becomes results. An archaic education system, unresponsive to the fierce urgency of now, and content to make piecemeal adjustments in the face of cataclysmic events, simply won’t do.
