Education

Oct 30, 2005

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Political Leader, Members of the MND Executive, Members of the Diplomatic Corp, specially invited guests, members of the media, fellow citizens of this beautiful Republic, ladies and gentlemen.

Education fosters the growth of a society and also its culture, spurs ambition and creativity, equips the Youth with the ability to embrace the future, and engenders harmonious living. Education is the key which can transform the society so that we can manage crime and poverty and other social ills.

In Trinidad today, many students leave the secondary school without gaining the required minimum of 5 CXC subjects, what is considered a full certificate.

It is only recently we have heard of an increased focus on Early Childhood Care and Development, but that should not be simply about building facilities but the content of the syllabus must be such that it allows the mind to develop when it is at its greatest capacity for acquiring knowledge.

In 1994 a national literacy survey, the first of its kind in Trinidad, was done by the Adult Literacy Tutors Association and the following year -1995 - a similar survey was done by the University of the West Indies. Their findings were conclusive. Both surveys agree that 22 – 23%, or 1 out of 4 person in Trinidad and Tobago are unable to cope with everyday reading and writing.

Ten years later our society is the same since no effort has been made to remedy the situation. What many of us take for granted, like reading street signs and instructions on medicine bottles, is an excruciating experience for both men and women who can’t read or write.

The MND believes that as a nation we must do better and education is the key to that success.

We need to develop standards for the delivery of education and the development of curricula that cater to all areas and levels of learning so we can achieve workers in the higher state of knowledge and harness the creative potential of our population.

Teachers across the country are struggling to cope with a scourge that hampers students’ ability to absorb the curriculum, pass exams and ultimately move on to being active, self-sufficient citizens. For different reasons, many children, beyond the age they’re expected to do so, are unable to functionally read and write.

This has caused a large number of our adults and consequently our youth who have passed through that system to find they are illiterate. With low self-esteem, shame and anger some of them join a cadre of men and women driven into a breeding ground of persons who eventually become criminals. Frustration and poverty are perpetuated by illiteracy. Illiteracy leads to many dangers that impact negatively on our society.

The problem of illiteracy described in a more general way is that each of us has different preferences for learning. Some of us prefer visually stimulating materials while others prefer auditory stimulating materials.

So we have visual learners and we have auditory learners but we also have a third kind of learner the kinesthetic or tactile learner. They learn by doing, they learn best by active participation and these are the learners who are left out.

Teachers become burdened with the quantity of students and the multiplicity of issues involved in the administration of the curricula. They either cannot cater to the different learning needs of the student or that different students learn differently, so they continue to be neglected.

Our present school system also does not cater for the multiple intelligences. After the first year in post primary school, they are organized according to the most brilliant to the least brilliant or the dunces.

In secondary schools the problem has been aggravated by the implementation in 2000 of universal secondary education. All children no matter how they performed at the SEA exam, were guaranteed a place post-primary. Those who cannot cope are left feeling inadequate to achieve anything worthwhile.

We steal their self worth and so they steal from us. We murder their self-esteem and teach them that their life is worthless so they learn that life in general has no value and they will take yours and mine with no regret. We rape their hopes and dreams and so they take from us in the same manner. Don’t get me wrong…. This is no excuse to commit crime, but it does lead to a sense of hopelessness in the uneducated.

Many people are still not convinced about the need to support programmes that encourage adult literacy, numeracy and further education which have come about from a need to eradicate illiteracy and poverty in our society.

At the same time we seem to be teaching people to be dependent on the State for a pathetic livelihood instead of providing them with the skills to be independent….we all know …”teach a man to fish and he has food for life…. People are intrinsicly good and must be motivated with the ability and desire to provide for themselves. The ‘ten days’ syndrome is a recipe for backwardness, poverty and crime.

It prevents a country from progressing or developing and contributes to the myriad of ills now gripping our nation from the spread of HIV to proliferation of anti-social behaviour.

Our system of education discriminates against the poor, the disabled and the rural. There is no universal opportunity for a proper education encompassing all types of learners.

The MND is committed to a complete education, zoned to make it accessible to those in their own community and at a level suitable for all. We can’t all be doctors, lawyers or scientist as the government’s free university for all eludes. We need the craftsmen, seamstress and the many varied skills of all our people to make Trinidad & Tobago a better place.

In addition, we will pay particular attention to the needs of the student. We will reduce class sizes to ensure an efficient teacher student ratio, we will investigate learning disabilities and work in partnership with families to reduce abuse, incest, neglect and mal-nutrition in children.

The time has come for us to take our heads out of the sand and address the real problems in the society.

Now is the ideal time to train our citizens and put the institutions of government in a state of efficiency that will allow for sustained growth and development in what is becoming an extremely competitive world economy. We simply cannot afford to be complacent.

Education is the key and as a nation we must do better for the welfare of all our people.

Thank you and may God bless us all.

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