Dear Editor,

On Wednesday, May 20, 2009 I was one among many parents/guardians who were invited to a meeting at the Linden Foundation Secondary School (LFSS). According to the head of the language department who conducted the meeting, after careful observation they have been able to indentify a number of children who were not performing “at an average level,” and were therefore deemed “low achievers.” In an effort to raise their level of performance, the school has introduced a literacy programme called ‘Help a Child.’

This was a very commendable action taken by the school and the language department head, who showed considerable interest in these children, as every teacher/educator should.

But this meeting brought out a number of important and disturbing matters. We were informed that there are many children who leave the primary level to enter secondary school but cannot read very simple words, cannot write their names, and do not know their ABC and numbers. How then did they arrive at this school and are sitting in Form I? There are some who cannot qualify for promotion, but have to be promoted by virtue of age; this school which once had one remedial class now has five; of the eight Form I classes, some five are studded with poor performers: and what makes matters even more alarming is that according to the Ministry of Education, not only does Linden have the highest number of trained teachers, but this school (LFSS) has the highest number of graduate teachers in the country! We were told about a shortage of materials, having to constantly borrow, of the photocopying machine not functioning and a host of other things. And from information I received this sad scenario is not confined to LFSS but exists in many others as well. When questioned about what had brought about this situation, it was explained that many of the programmes were not geared to helping slow learners, and further, that the school curriculum was too overloaded and allowed only a  short time in which assignments must be completed. As a consequence, in a haste to cover the curriculum slow learners were neglected, and the inevitable result was disastrous. Many students suffer from burn-out; some after ‘arriving,’ fall badly in performance; and slow learners who are frustrated and psychologically affected get to dislike school and only bide their time there. Some parents also expressed the view that the education and teaching methods are failing to capture the interest and imagination of the students, and there might be a flaw somewhere which is not of interest to the ‘experts’ and programme formulators. There are also other troubling areas: we learned of children with hearing and eye problems which the school was not equipped to deal with; of children walking from Moblissa (ten miles) to school daily  without anything to eat!; of many who might have other deficiencies; of children from poor and dysfunctional homes who cannot keep up in school.

Questions: What of the school feeding programme of yesteryear, where children were identified for suffering nutritional deficiency and given milk, biscuits and cod liver capsules daily or thrice a week. Shouldn’t this be done in the same way that children are identified as low achievers? Why can’t a medical team visit schools at specific periods? Where is the help for the unfortunate children to have at least one solid meal a day and be provided with proper footwear? Why must children who live along the Linden Highway stand for hours in rain/sun  to go to and from school? How can we really help the abandoned and poor children in our community? Apart from the government and the Ministry of Education being negligent and out of tune with the plight of the schools/children, I was also informed that the Linden Fund has a slew of highly trained professionals in almost every conceivable discipline who are willing and ready to make solid contributions in terms of expertise, materials and money whenever they are needed, but do not know where and who to turn to, since no one is approaching them. I was further told of a sizeable sum of US dollars that was raised and still available.

I wish that someone from Linden Fund could comment. This community needs all the help it can get.

Yours faithfully,
Frank Fyffe