Abolish SEA, Mr Minister

THE EDITOR: Open letter to the Minister of Education.

It is time we abolish the SEA. As a hardworking citizen responsible in some way for the future human resource of this nation, a parent, teacher and member of TTUTA, I hear my friends who are parents and teachers with a SEA child/children and/or class.

Now, I have been at the Std 2 level for most of my teaching career (21 years), bounced to Std 1 at one time and was in our school’s computer lab for a little while (while that existed; it is no longer there), and now I have been thrown into the Std 4/5 department (Sept 2019) and it’s a daily struggle, with my philosophy of education – teaching and learning (the fun, engagement and empowerment I was exposed to, which created in me a fire to be a "forever learner") – in constant conflict with this "drill/practice thing" they do at this level. Here is a suggestion, Mr Minister: let us just pause for a minute. In fact, let us just stop altogether. No SEA this year and continuing.

Stop fooling the public, the students, parents and teachers. This exam is not really needed. I am sure some already know what school they will be attending next.

If you would like to use a mark for placement, well then place all students based on how they have performed over the last six and a half years. Tally up all the marks from all those term tests, for teachers have integrity. There was no favour in testing or marking at those instances. Those assessments hold value. Then place them based on the score they would have obtained. That sounds like so much less hassle to me.

I call on the personnel responsible at the Ministry of Education to take the time (now till August) to fix all schools, upgrade the resources and get them really ready for the influx of the "new normal" come September, the new academic year: 2020-2021

Teachers will agree that they reteach anyway all that "was taught" at the previous level (primary to secondary to tertiary); for, you see, our education system is one focused on regurgitating what was shovelled down for assessments.

An additional thought here, minister: collaboration works better than competition most times. Maybe you should meet with the education officials in Barbados, or better yet take a look at the full system in the UK. How about “middle schools?” The population is growing and we do need more schools.

E THEODORE

Teacher 1 Primary