Victorians issued a call for greater parent and community involvement to curb declining educational standards at the Conference on Victoria Village held on Friday.
Leading discussions on the rebirth of education in the East Coast Demerara village, Dr Leyland Thompson noted that life in the village is quite different from when he grew up there. He told the audience that in analyzing declining educational standards one had to determine what had gone wrong. He said too it must be “recognised that educators cannot succeed on their own.” Dr Thompson noted that the reality was that many parents were not involved in their children’s schooling and those who wanted to become more involved simply did not know how to.
The absence of a parent/s in their children’s life was also discussed. In most cases where the mother was absent from the home it was because of employment. The conference also touched on the large number of youth liming on the streets and the lack of motivation among boys which was found to be a major factor in their low school attendance. While pointing out that parents might have failed their children by not being there, Dr Thompson said that the time had come for the community to get involved by encouraging youths to take education seriously and for more mentors and role models to play a visible role.
“I firmly believe that the National Service should be reintroduced which would inculcate self discipline among youths and stop them from engaging in time wasting activities,” he said. One resident said, “There are too many drop-outs, too many who don’t know how to read…they need to be reached and helped.” Another queried “are we saying the Victoria students are not bright anymore? Why can’t we get higher than junior secondary?”
The audience agreed that a collaborative effort was needed to deal with the problem and that it needed to be dealt with at a young age as the absence of youths ages 18-26 at the conference did raise questions about whether they were the “lost generation.” In keeping with this the meeting decided to launch a truancy campaign to ensure that every child attends school. A young man told the gathering that he came from a background of poverty but he made the most of the opportunities he was given and now he is in a position to help others. He said, “Education can help get you get out of poverty and change can come if we are willing.”
