Assess all children at the primary level, says Broomes

Retired Principal Jeff Broomes insists that if the nation wants to put an end to the vast number of students leaving secondary school without any certification, every child needs to be assessed at the primary level and proper remediation given.

Lamenting the fact that over 60 per cent of the students graduating from secondary schools were doing so without attaining one single certificate, the outspoken educator said long-term solutions have to be implemented to stop this from happening and these must start at the beginning.

“Too many children leave the primary level with too many gaps in their knowledge base and character tracks. It cannot be about teaching a syllabus; it must be about addressing the developmental and educational needs of all. Our elitist focus of specific schools over all else is unfair, destructive and anti good citizenship. If we believe that we provide good facilities, we provide good teachers and we provide appropriate learning experiences at all schools, why is it so difficult to eliminate the mass daily movement of children from one part of the country to another,” he argued.

Delivering yesterday’s Astor B. Watts lecture at the Democratic Labour Party headquarters, he disagreed with the practice of students having to travel over several parishes to attend school, insisting that this was wasting time that could be used more lucratively.

“Of course, this also adds to the destructive van stand culture. This is time that could be used for studying; this is time that could be used for sporting endeavours and this is time that could be used for creative exploration in culture and service,” he added.

Broomes posited that if all children were given adequate attention as opposed to what school they should attend, individual student profiles and schools alike would be better.

“We should not expect children with an average of 25 to 30 marks to progress at the same pace to reach the same level at the same time as students who average 60 to 70, which is what we do now unfortunately. Those lower performing students could benefit from a foundation year at a secondary school with a reduced timetable before moving into the general first form. It is not that difficult to do; all it needs is vision and a general commitment to improving our country one individual at a time,” he insisted. (JMB)