Dear Editor,
There is a passionate and ongoing rhetoric from the political parties for equality and the “One Guyana “initiative promoted by President Irfaan Ali. Hence, the focus should be on creating methods and solutions to make all of us equal. English Language is undoubtedly a primary tool to be used in this effort.
The government has introduced a programme to teach English to Venezuelan immigrants and Indigenous children. This is commendable. However, resources should also be spent in teaching native Guyanese to speak proper English. English has become a second language to creolese in Guyana. Whether we like it or don’t, we were British Guiana and grounded and well taught in English usage.
We may have sought to create our individuality but it is not one which we should exult over. Media interviewers are forced to change their diction to engage their interviewees and to encourage them to have a dialogue. This creates awkward moments and is not a good representation of our progress, for the viewers. The difference between singular and plural and their application seems to be unknown and grammar has gone askew.
The prevailing dialect compounds the unimportance with which excellence in diction is regarded by those who are assigned to lead us along the path towards excellence.
A re- education programme is urgently needed not just for youths who are attending schools but also for the adult population. Let us seek with verve this basic need to understand each other and for others in the English speaking world to understand us. The focus should also be on charges for those using expletives in public. Foul language is ubiquitous and exuberantly and gleefully used as though it was a grandiose speech. It depicts a society of lawlessness as such behaviour would be severely dealt with in developed countries.
It is noticeable that students from schools regarded as low in the hierarchy of schools are the ones whose English Language is appalling. Placing children in schools near to their homes could perpetuate the diction prevailing in their locality, whether good or bad. Our present educational system automatically imprints on young, impressionable minds, a complex, inferior or superior, from the time the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) examination results are published and students assigned to the schools for which their marks earn.
Those of us who attended Queen’s College and even Bishops’ and Saints Stanislaus College know this. Fortunately, Queen’s College in my time there, taught us the stellar qualities of humility, compassion, empathy, loyalty and gratitude among others. The harm comes with those unable to attend these schools. The psyches of those students could be permanently damaged and leave them with a feeling of deficiency and deprived of opportunities which could have been so easily dispensed.
Let us make all government schools equal. It should be an entitlement for our citizenry. With the burgeoning oil industry and the influx of foreigners and the diaspora proficient in the use of English, it most likely will become a difficult task to communicate with locals. Comprehensible communication will be vital in order to maintain efficiency and harmony in their operations. Our personal interactions would be easier and harmonious through standard English leading to understanding and could contribute to breaking down the present divisions.
Sincerely,
Conrad Barrow
