Quality education comes from quality environment

IF TT has to maintain a high quality in the education system, the environment must be of a high quality and this is what the Education Ministry is determined to attain.

Minister of Education, Anthony Garcia said this while addressing the prize-giving function of the top 200 SEA students on Saturday at NAPA south.

Garcia told parents and students that on the issue of schools having to shut down because of on-going problems, the ministry is doing everything possible to make sure that is no more.

“We want to make sure that our schools can offer students and teachers an environment that is conducive to learning and teaching so that this can reflect on that quality education that we strive for,” Garcia said.

While the ministry recognises the excellence shown in SEA exams it wants to ensure excellence will be carried through the five or seven years students spend in secondary schools.

The Education Ministry, he said, has embarked on a new initiative to trace the development of students through secondary schools and to universities and also to the careers they choose. “Whatever you do today will lead to the type of society we have later on,” Garcia said.

Garcia recognised there are a mix of students that excelled coming from both government and denominational schools. He said that many of the students who are in the top 200 came from government schools which shows that these schools are performing.

He himself wrote the very first Common Entrance Exams in 1961 and attended Hillview College. “Friends I made while in college remained my friends even today,” Garcia said.