The All Saints Primary School in New Amsterdam hosted an exhibition of Commonwealth member states focusing on some of those outside the Caribbean region, on the occasion of Commonwealth Day on Monday.
After four years of being placed on the school’s calendar of events, Head Teacher Kowsilla Tahal said she is elated to see the realisation of the dream project.
“I had scheduled it on the schedule of activities for the past three to four years, but we were never able to pull it off until now,” she said, adding that the school’s administration became “very adamant at a recent staff meeting to pull it off this year.” The exhibition focused on Botswana, Canada, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, the United Republic of Tanzania and Swaziland, one of the smallest nations on the African continent. “We selected countries outside of Caricom and each class was given one country to showcase,” Tahal explained. Students, teachers and parents were tasked with researching the countries, focusing on “location, culture, natural resources, date of membership and any other information they deemed relevant,” she said.
At the exhibition, several booths were set up around the school displaying the food, clothing and other information about the countries. Some pupils dressed in the traditional clothing of people unique to the country they researched while parents and teachers prepared dishes unique to these countries. Although the school’s administration understood the significance of hosting such an activity, they had not anticipated the reality of the students completely embracing the opportunity to learn about other countries. “I didn’t expect this! I enjoyed seeing how the children slipped into the shoes of the citizens of the other countries so easily. It shows that we have common grounds and are really one big family,” the Head Teacher said, adding that the importance of such a project should never be underestimated.
She further noted that it fostered cooperation and honed and sharpened research skills among students, teachers and parents. Referring to one of the textbooks used to teach Social Studies at the primary level, Guyana: Our Country, Our Home, Tahal said the book states “there are 52 countries but the Commonwealth of Nations [has] 54 countries”. She said when students were asked to research Swaziland; “they were correcting me saying it is Switzerland.” They did not know that they are two different countries, she said, adding that it was a great learning experience for the pupils. “The excitement was there. They come up to me now and say, ‘Miss, I didn’t know there was so many things about this country,’” she said. Tahal also noted that the exhibition has helped to build a better relationship between and among the parents, teachers and students “because the parents did the work… they worked together with the teachers and students to come up with the ideas. It was very innovative!”
Commonwealth Day 2013 was observed under the theme ‘Unlocking potential with innovation and excellence’. The Commonwealth is made up mostly of former colonies of Britain.
