Ralph Thompson, ContributorWhen the CXC overall pass rates are disaggregated, it becomes immediately clear that the crucial problem with the Jamaican education system is in the non-traditional secondary school segment.
I have analysed this disaggregation for the past seven years because some 70 per cent of the total secondary-school population (mostly children of the poor) attend non-traditional secondary schools. So, what is happening in these schools must be the prime focus of education policy.
I believe that parents who sacrifice to send their children to school have a right to expect that after five years of custody in a school, the majority of their children should be able to attain some qualification and certification to equip them for the workplace.
Tragically, this is not the case, a fact dramatically demonstrated by comparing the ranking of the top 10 traditional secondary schools with the top 10 non-traditional secondary schools and technical schools for 2007.
Devastating consequences for economy
Despite what the annual analysis of CXC results over the last seven years has shown, despite all the political rhetoric and lame excuses from the Ministry of Education and the Jamaica Teachers' Association, Jamaica's education performance continues to limp along with devastating consequences for the economy. Consider these results for 2007:> In our traditional secondary schools, 37.23 per cent of the cohort failed English and 59.47 per cent failed mathematics. In our non-traditional secondary schools, 88.54 per cent failed English and 96.12 per cent failed mathematics. In our technical schools, 80.65 per cent failed English and 90.3 per cent failed mathematics.In terms of actual numbers in all categories - traditional, non-traditional and technical - the picture which emerges is appalling.
In English, for example, total school enrolment was 40,037 youngsters. Seventeen thousand six hundred and twelve were not even allowed to take the exams, each principal exercising his or her discretion to exclude those with little hope of passing so as not to depress the school's official passing rate.
Of the 22,425 who did sit the exams, 10,789 failed. So, between those culled and those who failed, 28,401 Jamaican children left our high schools virtually illiterate, barely able to understand or speak standard English, relegated to the 'House of Despair', there to join the army of the dispossessed from previous years.
It is from this army that the criminals and gang members graduate to wreak revenge upon a society which has deprived them of the opportunity to live in dignity as civilised human beings. The results in mathematics are even worse.
Jamaican children as bright as others
The CXC results are like a thermometer which indicates the health of the patient. Such an objective analysis is necessary to mark progress or failure but does not speak per se to a solution.
We can agree that teachers in non-traditional secondary schools are doing their best, working under disadvantages, compared to traditional high schools. We can agree that non-traditional high schools get less resources than their traditional counterparts. But the bottom line is that we are not educating the majority of our children. We must stop using explanations as excuses. I refuse to believe that Jamaican children come into this world with any less intellectual potential than children anywhere else. Their poor performance year after year shows that something must be terribly wrong with the system itself.
For over 15 years, I have been agitating for greater emphasis on early childhood education. The brain of a child must be stimulated in its early years or its potential will be stunted. Later remediation hardly works and is not cost effective. The new Bruce Golding administration faces a daunting challenge but a glorious opportunity to rescue Jamaican education from mediocrity. I recommend a few essential steps.
At least 11 per cent of the next education budget must go to early childhood education. Teachers must be licensed and paid based on performance. New graduates of teacher training colleges should be obliged to do a one-year practicum in the early childhood sector in order to earn a degree or diploma The Early Childhood Commission must be streamlined and 'de- bureaucratised' so that it can carry out its mandate efficiently.If we get early childhood right, all else will be added unto us and there will be an almost miraculous improvement in the other education sectors from primary to tertiary. If we do not get early childhood education right, we are doomed to continuing failure.
TOP TEN TRADITIONAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS
Passes as per cent of total cohort.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE MATHEMATICS
Name of School % Passes Name of School % Passes
Wolmer's Girls 97.19 Campion College 97.23
Campion College 95.85 St. Andrew High 92.82
Westwood High 94.57 Immaculate Conception 89.17
St. Andrew High 93.67 Wolmer's Boys' School 85.11
Bishop Gibson High 93.57 Ardenne High 83.22
Immaculate Conception 93.50 Glenmuir High 80.08
Ardenne High 91.61 Wolmer's Girls School 79.43
St. Hilda's Diocesan 90.69 St. Jago High 75.97
Holy Childhood High 89.67 Westwood High 72.86
Wolmer's Boys' School 87.90 Montego Bay High 71.57
TOP TEN AVERAGE 92.82 TOP TEN AVERAGE 82.74
(Last year) 93.04 (Last year) 79.93
All traditional schools average 62.76 All traditional schools average 40.53
Last year 62.00 Last year 41.00
