I HAVE been a teacher in the Jamaican school system since 1995. During this time I have taught at both the primary and secondary level. For the past year, I have been teaching at a rural high school.
What I have found heart-rending is the inability of our students to read properly. Their difficulties include:
Struggling to spell the simplest of words, for example, 'would', 'that', and 'with'.
Unable to read audibly and properly.
Inability to write in cursive legibly and properly.
After careful thought and a bit of research, inclusive of interviews, I have come up with a theory that "the main source of the problem with Jamaica's education system is the primary school level!"
This is by no means a novel idea; in fact, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture tried to address this with the Readiness Inventory at Grade One and the Grade Four Assess-ment Test. Still, somehow, we produce scores of illiterate and semi-literate secondary level students.
The CXC results, which taken as a whole are scandalous, bear witness to the continued failure of the Jamaican education system. What is the way forward? This correction cannot include a witch-hunt, demonising teachers or education administrators.
Rather, I recommend a sort of broad-based Commission of Enquiry which would investigate the negative state of our system. The Commission would look at teacher training, the three main levels of education in the system (primary, secondary, tertiary with increasing emphasis on the lower levels) binding the Ministry to findings and recommendations of the Commission.
