Richards: Student Support is failing pupils

The Ministry of Education’s Student Support Services Division is failing thousands of pupils each year, both mainstream and special-needs, asserted Independent Senator Paul Richards in his Budget contribution in the Senate on Tuesday. He said the unit is in crisis.

“There are thousands of other families affected like this that the Student Support Services is not getting to. Something has to be done. Someone has to speak out on their behalf.” Noting the huge budget allocation to education, he said, “Every citizen should feel ‘I am able to get a piece of this pie, and I’m able to do the best for my family and my child no matter what the circumstances’.

“The vulnerable groups in this country are not being attended to and this is a vulnerable group that must be attended to. Let’s take a look at our Education Act to amend it so this group is covered.”

Richards spelt out the hardships faced by the parents of special needs pupils by recalling that a parent of a hearing-impaired pupil must spend $2,500 each month for an assistant for his child. Likewise, the father of a pupil with Down Syndrome must likewise find $5,000 per month for extra help for his son.

Richards was concerned that 60 per cent of pupils score below the national average at the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exam, and said this is where the focus should be rather than on any given minister of education taking photos with SEA high-fliers on results day. On the need for education reform, he cited the example of Sweden which is in the world’s top three educational systems and is still innovating.

He said Sweden has recently decided to abolish written exams but instead focus on communication in education and creative thinking, including the use of information and communications technology.

Richards was quite concerned that despite huge sums spent on education, many graduates cannot write properly and are lost in the workplace. He lamented that at a two-year course at the University of Trinidad and Tobago, by the end of year two the initial cohort of 14 students had shrunk to two.

Some students at COSTAATT and UTT are expressing abject frustration, he alleged. “We need to take a serious look inside institutions,” Richards urged.

He also lamented that the Government Assistance with Tuition Expenses Programme had for many institutions turned into a money-making opportunity. On the creative sector, Richards urged TT to follow the lead of Jamaica and Africa where the State provides a vehicle to internationally promote export of the arts. “We can’t go out as Peter Elias or Heather Jones but as Brand T&T,” he urged, for the fashion industry. “It’s the same thing for music.”

He said the creative sector globally is worth $1.4 trillion.