By Jenique Belgrave
Attempting to fit children into the box of an outdated educational system will set up many of them to fail, United Nations Youth Representative Taahir Bulbulia has warned.
“We have an educational system which is very outdated in a 2023 world. So where does that bring us?” he questioned on Thursday at the Crime Prevention Symposium hosted by the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus’ Office of the Principal and UWI Centre for Criminal Justice and Security in collaboration with the CariSECURE 2.0 at the Sagicor School of Business.
Sitting on a panel that discussed The Early Years, Risk and Protective Factors in Children who Display Aggression, Bulbulia contended: “There are no elements of fun and engagement from preschool. At that stage, teaching fun and love for learning is critical, and then they go into a primary school system where a pass-or-fail system happens. When a student now fails, they may not do well in school and then they’ll feel like failures within the school system. And we have to move away from this notion.”
“Then we have a secondary system where if you don’t get five CXCs, you cannot make it to the next level. What are we saying to our students? What are we saying to our young people? We are fitting them into a box at an age of critical development to make choices for their future and for their life,” asserted the Member of the Youth Advisory Group of the UN Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean MultiCountry Office.
He added that many children today have a love for and talent in non-traditional areas, including culture, arts, sports, coding, and video making and these children will not function well in the current school system.
Bulbulia said a national parenting program was “absolutely critical” to creating a positive change in society and for future generations.
Such an effort, he said, should be community-led.
“How are we going to get there? Are we going to be solely dependent on the Government and the ministry to institute a parenting programme? Don’t we have the capability within our own spheres, within our own boundaries, within our own communities to effect this change?” Bulbulia asked.
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