Minister to focus on academics...and building values
PORT OF SPAIN
■ Ria Taitt
Political Editor
MINISTER of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly says her first focus coming out of this week's crime symposium would be to look at the education system, with a view to putting some emphasis on building the moral and spiritual values and ethics of pupils.
She said it may result in changes in the curriculum, and to a reassessment of how 'we examine'.
'I am not sure how it would be fleshed out in terms of dealing with the discussion on education reform, but I do know that we have to pay more attention to the citizens that we are creating, along with the academics,' the minister said while speaking with the Express on Wednesday.
Told that speakers at the symposium suggested the education systems in the region were not catering for those who were most at risk of criminal behaviour, and were focusing too heavily on exams while catering to the cream of the crop, Gadsby- Dolly gave her understanding of the takeaways.
'I don't think that is what I got (from the symposium). What I got is that the education system needs reform because we need to concentrate on the other aspects (of personal growth)-not just the academics. I think the issue of the focus on exams was put in the context of the need to look at why young people were turning to violence to solve their conflicts, and the need to develop the other aspects of the person.
'I don't think the issue was that we need to add more technical subjects, and that may be true in other countries in the region because some of them don't have the same system we have-for example, in Jamaica and Antigua students pay for their exams. So our situation might be a little different from some of the other countries.
'But my main takeaway, and I agree, was that the emphasis on building the moral, spiritual values and the ethics must be more explicitly done at this time. Because (previously) students kind of pick up these values along the way in the socialisation at home, school and church.
'But if they are not getting it from the home or the church, as they are not in many cases, then you have to teach them. And that is what I suspect would be the focus and push in terms of the regional educational reform that was mentioned,' Gadsby- Dolly said.
She added, 'I don't think that the attention given to doing well in exams is so much the issue for us. I think (the issue is that) we need to now focus explicitly on building the individual and the citizen that we are creating, and to putting things into the educational experience that allows that to be built.'
Gadsby-Dolly cited participation in team activitiessuch as Scouts, Red Cross, choirs-which creates the kind of social solidarity that St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves referred to.
'That to me was one of the biggest takeaways-how to develop the whole person in the education system so that our students are positive contributors to the community and society,' she said.
Community violence ends up in schools Gadsby-Dolly drew attention to statements by Gonsalves that poor people in communities saw the white-collar criminals getting away with crime and felt they, too, should get a free pass.
She recalled someone saying to her that the pupils in the prestige schools were the ones who needed the most training in ethics, patriotism and morals because they were generally the future leaders of the country and allowed corruption to take place at the higher levels.
'If everyone is successful academically, that is great. But how are we dealing with the aspects of the personality of the citizen? Why would people think that it is okay to solve a problem by shooting someone? That is not (a problem of) academics. That is something else,' she said.
Asked whether school violence was a precursor or related to violence in the streets, Gadsby-Dolly said in many cases when school social workers do the case conferencing with parents, they discover that in many cases the problems of school violence originate outside of the school.
'A lot of them are community problems that end up coming into the school. More likely community violence ends up inside the school, rather than the other way around. You also find a lot of social media issues play out in the school,' she said.
She said some of the pupils were involved with the gangs.
Mental health and violence
On the issue of mental health, which was raised as a possible contributor to violent behaviour among pupils, Gadsby-Dolly said mental health evaluation was absolutely necessary, and the ministry had selected 106 schools which it felt needed support.
She said in these schools dedicated social workers and guidance counsellors were being placed to cater for the heavy workload.
The minister added that the school remediation programme was being introduced in these schools, and a restorative justice pilot was being done in some of them.
She said these 106 schools were also benefiting from teacher training on how to de-escalate conflict.
'The focus in these schools is not just on increasing academic performance. It is also addressing the other issues facing the students and teachers,' she said, adding that infrastructural repair was also part of the programme because the physical environment of the school can affect how pupils behave and react.
'The tenders are out now for serious capital expenditure on 26 of the 106 schools that we are placing greater emphasis on, and more resources into,' Gadsby-Dolly stated.
She said there were also systems in place for early identification and support for pupils with learning disabilities.
'DEVELOPING THE WHOLE PERSON': Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly attends yesterday's sitting of Parliament at the Red House, Port of Spain.
