Dear Editor,
The recent controversies concerning the use of Chinese workers on construction projects in Guyana are stark illustrations of how various post-independence policy-makers have failed to adequately prepare Guyanese workers for the twenty-first century. With the exception of Dr C B Jagan who established the University of Guyana, Mr L F S Burnham during whose tenure six multilateral schools were built in different regions, all church and private schools were nationalised, free education introduced from the nursery through to the university or tertiary levels, and the community high schools established, most of our post-independence education policy-makers failed to realise that the colonial school system we inherited was not designed to educate and develop individuals, or to make education relevant to the needs of the colony. The school system that we inherited was designed for the domestication, and evangelisation of freed slaves.
As a consequence education policy-makers have failed to develop the required education policies that would have focused on the elimination of obstacles to Guyana’s development and modernisation. Our school system has remained essentially academic and elitist.
Although there exists a substantial body of evidence that suggests that the health and viability of the Guyanese society and economy have been more dependent upon those little recognised talents other than on traditional academic (verbal and numerical) pursuits, the curricular emphasis within the Guyanese school system continues to be overwhelmingly academic to the point where other emphases are almost totally excluded.
This absence of opportunities within the existing school system for the development of the varied potentials of young Guyanese represents a most serious deficiency that continues to have far reaching consequences. This deficiency has resulted in: 1) limited avenues for the beneficial employment of youthful energy, particularly male; 2) absence of scientific and technological traditions in the common culture; 3) a severe shortage of critical technical skills in areas relevant to existing environmental needs in Guyana; 4) lack of preparation for industrial development; 5) an abysmal lack of civic interests on the part of Guyanese citizens in their adult years; 6) lack of progress towards an integrated national culture; 7) unproductive and debilitating lifestyles; 8) high unemployment; and 9) a birth rate that continues to outstrip the economic growth rate.
Together, these nine listed consequences of an inadequate school system make a most potent recipe for economic marginalisation and social unrest.
The imperative to have a system of education that is responsive to environmental needs cannot be over-emphasised.
This is of paramount importance if wholehearted support for public education is to continue.
However, to reiterate, two of the consequences of having a school system that is elitist, and emphasises academic excellence to the point where it excludes educational excellence are: 1) a critical shortage of higher-level technical skills in the Guyanese workforce; and 2) the lack of preparedness for industrial development.
This academic emphasis together with the lower social status accorded to workers in technical and applied fields are part of our colonial cultural heritage. But, there is another more mundane reason that has contributed to the above conditions in more recent times.
Guyana’s meagre post-colonial economy could not, at the same time, support both the huge expenditures required for mass education and the purchase of the equipment necessary for viable higher-level technical and vocational programmes, much more to retool or re-equip ever so often to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in industry.
Because of the great costs involved in keeping up, it is imperative that the Ministry of Education and educators, reach out to businesses, industry, private and non-government organisations, and seek out their cooperation, collaboration and assistance in launching cooperative or sandwich TVET programmes.
The major challenge envisaged, would be to get the private sector to see the value of participating in this initiative. It would definitely require great flexibility, changes in attitudes and in the way things have been done.
Establishing and nurturing links between schools and private sector agencies to offer appropriate training for learners is a key area for development that will require strong coordinating skills between and amongst all stakeholders.
The desirable outcomes of well managed cooperative TVET programmes include: 1) a more efficient and effective TVET system which is better able to respond to current labour and market demands; 2) greater scope for the development of a wider variety of student potentials; 3) reduction in the rate of male dropout; 4) enlargement and enhancement of the talent and higher-level technical skill pool of the Guyanese workforce; 5) attraction of investment, and an end to economic marginalisation; 6) creation of more youth employment; 7) increased productivity and creation of wealth; and, 8) the reduction of poverty.
Finally, a word of caution: these TVET programmes should not be seen as terminal.
Students should be encouraged and be able to continue their education as far as their individual potentials permit.
Yours faithfully,
Clarence O Perry
