Dear Editor,
The fire at Mahdia revealed the urgent need to bring in major change into delivery of education in Guyana. Safety in education is crucial to its delivery and anyone can think of various scenarios in schools at present which threaten safety: floor boards which need changing, inadequate toilet facilities, dirty furniture, poor lighting, lack of support staff, and so on. An examination of the conditions that produced the tragedy of Mahdia, however, must go far beyond chest beating and blame allocation. If it is kept on this level then the inadequacy of the system is perpetuated. The machinery of governing must keep turning and its turning must produce the kind and quality of delivery of education which empowers Guyana for its new status in the world as a financial and political power. But, safety in not the total story.
A reality has to be managed. Guyana a very few months ago was cash strapped. Planning was possibly mainly reactive and financially minimized as the money was not there. With an overflowing public purse, however, many developmental opportunities present themselves. This has happened and management must fully understand what has to be managed. Education is one of the pillars of national development. If education is not open to critical comment at this time then the nation will pay a heavy price for an inability to reflect, to own a failure, and to plot transformation. Transformation is possible and inviting.
Education is managed in two ways. One form of management is indeed reactive and is ongoing because schools are administered in time bound terms. Education authorities must therefore be reactive as immediate and arising needs are expressed. If the delivery of education stops there what is produced is a patchwork system which generates overall stagnation and disappointment and possible collapse, God forbid. Such schools may well be run on divine inspiration which comes out of the expectation that promotion produces know-how. Not so!
Education must have its larger framework which develops alongside the day to day management of functioning schools. In this larger framework all understand the scope of effort needed to build a highly effective and informed approach to delivery of education. This larger framework is built on a vision which defines Guyana’s in relation to its native population, its incoming population, and the world.
To manage delivery of education in Guyana this second kind of management is crucial to overall success in a complex and unfolding reality, and is doable. Guyana presents a fascinating array of opportunities for creation of a very customized framework based on concepts of equality and respect for all human beings involved in delivery of education despite geographical location. Everyone must know and understand the framework and how each school fits into a picture of inclusive excellence. Each school, including schools of higher education, must know the framework, embrace it, use it for day to day critical analysis for developmental direction and for alignment with that direction.
Guyana must actively plan this inclusive framework because schools are separated by distance, culture, customs and sometimes ethnicities and tribal background. Educational needs must be identified by local communities and their goals and expectations defined by themselves. And, yes, it can be done if the system is nurturing and elicits the views and hopes of schools in vastly differing landscapes, if the planning instruments are developed and persons learn how to use them. Circumscribing all of this and written into delivery of education must be the components which define Guyanese identity as a gorgeous kaleidoscope.
Money is no problem in Guyana. To fail to spend on education on its small population leaves Guyana open to loss of identity and inability to manage rich resources into a prosperous and powerful future. The cost of passivity and mediocrity is very high and most unpleasant.
So what has to be done? Assembling and training of skills most certainly. Tired skills will sabotage efforts. Management skills need to be identified. Persons with qualifications in educational leadership and in the passing on of leadership skills need to be hired. The conversations have to be started which explore what needs to be set in place to produce countrywide improvements based on agreed values and goals. Include the brilliant young minds in existing schools. Hear their voices.
Safety has to be with the Ministry of Education, not with a satellite body. There has to be communication on a wide level and on a nurturing level so that expression of ideas is encouraged. Educators need to speak up without fear victimization. Change has to be managed and a turnaround can take as long as five years. To develop a resilient and robust delivery system mistakes must be viewed as building blocks. If the great innovators of all time had given up when they failed the amazing improvements of our age would never have been realized. A painful tragedy happened, more painful as evidence reveals that it was avoidable. The tragedy will continue if the very human input needed to make it work is brutalized and insulted into silence.
I have felt the loss that Mahdia represents. As a person of the hinterland despite my long years abroad I recall how hard it is to achieve when the landscape is unyielding and sometimes dangerous, the culture shock when to attend high school requires leaving a familiar and loved landscape. This is still the reality as the vast spread of Guyana’s territory puts pressure on educational leaders to be strong and committed to education wherever the need exists. Great talent lies in far flung areas and Guyana needs the talents of all of its people. Education enables Guyana to exert control over its resources and its future. Inadequacy in delivery needs to be identified and corrected right now.
Understand the massive scope of delivery of education. Start the conversations which celebrate the skills and hopes of the population. Educational leadership is not a dolly tea party with fantastical parts. It is serious business for the survival of a nation. So I say.
Sincerely,
Gabriella Rodriguez