Dear Editor,
I wish to offer sincere congratulations to the top students in the recent Grade Six Assessment examinations.
I was one of the fortunate individuals who attended Queen’s College in the past. With Queen’s College strong record of high academic standing, I was able to complete my GCE ‘A’ levels followed by a Bachelor’s degree from the University of London, England, and a PhD from the University of Windsor, Canada.
Personally, I consider myself fortunate to have passed the Common Entrance exam, as the Grade Six Assessment was called at that time. I know of many of my colleagues at primary school who were smarter than me, but due to many factors including exams jitters were unable to pass the Common Entrance exam.
Unfortunately, many of these students today are wrapped up in less than desirable careers.
In North America, there is no equivalent to the Grade Six Assessment. In fact, it would be fair to say that the Grade Six Assessment process is, perhaps, a carry-over from the colonial days. The Grade Six Assessment process is no doubt, creating an inferiority complex and low self-esteem in students who are not lucky enough to pass it with high scores. It is indeed a tragedy that in these highly technological times, many kids’ futures are being determined at 11 years of age due to the Grade Six Assessment process.
I wish to urge the Minister of Education, Mr Baksh, to look seriously look into the Grade Six Assessment process which is resulting in many students not realizing their true potential if they do not pass, and are not given the opportunity to attend the best schools in the country. As a former lucky student who attended Queen’s College, I wish to offer the following suggestions to the Minister of Education:
1. Eliminate the Grade Six Assessment exam. This exam could, undoubtedly, lead to low self-esteem and inferiority complex, beginning at 11 years, in the kids who were not lucky to score high in this exam.
2. Make the educational system more uniform throughout the country, in particular in secondary schools
3. Ensure that the quality of teachers in secondary schools is similar. It is unfair to the student and parents for top schools to have the best teachers while other schools have mediocre teachers.
4. Children should attend a secondary school that is nearest to their place of residence. This would reduce transportation costs for many students who, frankly, cannot afford the high cost of transportation.
It is my sincere hope that Minister Baksh, would investigate implementation of the above recommendations.
I strongly believe that a child’s future is a terrible thing to waste! As a result, if called upon for assistance, I will provide services for free.
Yours faithfully,
Anand Persaud
Editor’s note
The Ministry of Education some time ago made clear its intention eventually to abolish testing at the eleven-plus level as well as streaming, and said that it would send children to secondary schools in their local area as far as possible. The policy is already partly in operation, but cannot be fully implemented until enough secondary school places of a similar standard are available to cater for everyone. At the moment the marks from the Grades Two, Four and Six Assessments (not just one exam, as Dr Persaud seems to think) are used for placement, but only in the twenty-seven top secondary schools throughout the country.
Everyone else is supposed to go to their local school as long as the places are available.
