Now that the dust has settled after the publishing of the results of the National Grade Six Assessment, and the accolades have been rightly bestowed on the top performers from around Guyana, it is perhaps a good idea to take a moment to reflect upon those in the education system, particularly the secondary school system, who may see themselves as having failed, when in truth, it may be the system which has failed them.
For instance, news coming out of the East Canje Secondary School (ECSS) this week that 50 students are leaving the school without Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) qualifications serves to amplify the voices in our country who support a greater emphasis on vocational training.
Interestingly, Zamal Hussain head of the Education Committee of the Region Six administration, reasons that it is unfair for the students not to sit the CSEC examinations and argues that they should all be given the opportunity to put pen to paper and demonstrate their academic abilities.
Hussain’s concern for the students is valid, but perhaps misdirected in the sense that vocational training and education is often far more beneficial for some students than a general education with its emphasis on academic skills. The example of the students from ECSS represents a larger number across the country who struggle every year to secure CSEC level qualifications after approximately 10 years in the system.
Countries worldwide vary in their approaches to educating their citizens. In the USA, for instance, there is a focus on general education. However, some countries in Europe place a particular focus on vocational education, especially as it makes it easier for young people to enter the labour market. The possible flip side of this, of course, is that those same workers may sometimes be less able to adapt to changes in technology and computer-based systems. However, this need not be the case.
We are not recommending a shift from a general education with an academic focus to a vocational education one. Rather, we are suggesting that there should be an increased emphasis on vocational education for the specific benefit it offers of making jobs more quickly accessible to school leavers who are more inclined to take this educational path.
It is expected that the majority of students will always be tutored under the general education system. However, for the sizeable minority whose natural inclination to learning seems more suited for vocational education, it becomes imperative that we seek to modernize our approach to education systems, taking into account all the advances in technology and computer-based systems and taking full advantage of same.
The current vocational education institutions include the Guyana Technical Institute and lesser forms of it across the country. It is not likely that these institutions have benefited from any major overhaul in infrastructure for many years. Just last week, Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, in a very straightforward way, told Parliament that the education system is in dire straits and based on his assessment, the baseline for future planning on education has to be a significant reform of the entire system.
This year, some $40.3B has been allocated for the education sector, and the lion’s share of resources is concentrated in schools and educational institutions in the capital and on the coast. It may be useful to see a bifurcation of resources to vocational education institutions along with the usual subventions to institutions providing a conventional general education.
Despite the existence of technical institutes throughout the country which have a regular intake of new students annually, vocational training opportunities have been limited. Any new curriculum for vocational education should recognise the changes in science, technology and information technology which have swept the world. We cannot stress too much that vocational education does not have to equate to substandard education on an entirely too basic a level. Vocational education should be about skills training and those skills should have relevance for the modern world in which we live today.
In reforming the system, stakeholders led by Minister Roopnaraine will find it necessary to consider carefully what is happening to the nation’s youths who are leaving school untrained and without any skills to contribute to our economic development as a country, or, indeed, their own livelihoods. In particular, as indicated above, more serious consideration ought to be given to vocational education as a pathway to employment as well as the professional development of our youth population.
Reforms to the education system would need to include a programme to extend the apprenticeship programmes, given the opportunities these could provide for young people to garner work experience and a skills qualification at the same time. For example, the government could be working more closely and in a more meaningful manner coordinating with local businesses to prepare students for available jobs in the private sector as well as their communities.
Given that Minister Roopnaraine’s general approach to education reform indicates a leaning towards studying best practices, he could find good examples of vocational and general education working in tandem in countries such as Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
Austria’s model combines general schooling with technical training in a laboratory environment. After five years of studies, students graduate from these schools with a solid professional training as well as with the academic qualifications to enter university. While about half of these graduates pursue a higher academic education, the other half of the graduates, who are in high demand on the labour market, join the workforce.
A comprehensive overhaul of the education system in Guyana remains a task still to be done, something which has been admitted by the current, as well as, the previous, Minister of Education, both of whom promised reform. We would like to add that budgetary support should be secured early on for education reform, including the vocational education institutions and systems in Georgetown and throughout the country.
The criteria for the assessment of students for entry into the vocational education system as opposed to them continuing in the general education system would need to be clear and well thought out. The education system should have institutions which are geared to produce citizens who have all the necessary skills and knowledge to modernize this country and ensure a good life and future for themselves and their families.
