School removes CSECchoices from students

THE EDITOR: It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter. My daughter, a Form 3 student of an all-girls Catholic school in Penal, will be writing the CSEC examination in 2021.

Recently she was given a form to fill out. This form contained the subjects from which she was required to choose. As with all secondary schools, mathematics and English A are compulsory. This year, English literature was also made compulsory at the school.

My daughter is also required to do a science subject but she loves integrated science and performs quite well in that field so we are pleased.

What horrified both my daughter and myself, however, was when we read that all students must choose at least one foreign language.

My daughter had dropped French in Form 2 and continued with Spanish in Form 3. She performs very poorly in Spanish in spite of trying very hard. Now she often complains about it and sometimes cries out of sheer frustration.

She was looking forward to dropping Spanish at the end of this term so she could do a subject in its place, one in which she has more interest.

I know there are now many Spanish-speaking people in our country and their presence has probably spurred the principal and her curriculum team to make that decision. I am sure they mean well.

However, while I do understand the need to converse with speakers of a foreign language as required, I think my daughter knows enough Spanish at this point to make minimal conversation.

The school, in effect, has already chosen five subjects for each pupil out of the required eight subjects for CSEC and has left the poor students to choose only three. My daughter said many of her classmates, who do not perform well in foreign languages, have already resigned themselves to the fact that in effect the school is asking them to do only seven subjects.

It is unfair to impose this requirement on the students. The school itself will regret this decision since its results in 2021 will show that many students did not pass all eight subjects.

I trust this Penal school will rethink its decision and allow its students to choose subjects which they like and are helpful in their career choices.

May good sense prevail always.

RESMHA SAMLAL, Palmiste