TTUTA tells THA: Majority of Tobago students not progressing

TRINIDAD and Tobago Unified Teachers' Association (TTUTA) Tobago Officer Bradon Roberts has disagreed with the THA Division of Education, Research and Technology which said the island’s education system was showing signs of progress.

During a media conference on July 7 at the division, Scarborough, Education Secretary Zorisha Hackett said more primary schools had performed above the national average in this year’s SEA (Secondary Entrance Assessment).

However, Hackett said the island still faced serious challenges, particularly in English and Mathematics, along with the performance of boys. Twelve schools, she said, scored above the national average this year when compared to just five in previous years, describing that as a significant achievement.

In an interview with Newsday on July 8, Roberts begged to differ.

“As far as I am aware, Creative Writing marks dropped significantly this year. There were some outstanding students in Language Arts, more so than the Mathematics, but we would not have done better this year than last year.”

He added: “There are some stand-out students as we always have stand-out students, but the majority, we do not have the majority at the marks where we need them to be.”

He said showing signs of progress was relative to what one was looking at.

“So yes, they may be showing signs of progress, some schools improving, but there may be some schools that are declining. Progress is based on what you’re actually looking at.

“I am mindful of these politicians, they are good at spinning language to make things look how they want it to look, but the message in itself is highly contradictory. A lot of boys are failing but we’re progressing. So it is that the girls are performing so much better that we are progressing overall with the boys failing?”

He said teachers must be given the tools needed to do their jobs.

“My information is that we are not doing as well as we need to and unless we resource the schools, because many of the schools are struggling greatly for resources. That is what the division needs to address. If they address those things they would give teachers a better chance to cope with those children who need differentiated teaching methods and so on. You can’t have all those things without support, unless the teachers continue to dip deeply into their pockets for each academic year.”

For accelerated learners, Hackett said the division was moving towards a policy shift through the Ministry of Education and the Division of Education to allow them to write the SEA as soon as they're ready.

Roberts said, “History tells me to believe what I see. When these things happen then I can say something, but otherwise politicians always have a plan.