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I recall from my brief sojourn in grade 1and the week in grade two over crowding, broken desks and sixtu odd other brats besides: yet here we are the same....too often we see articles praising the acheivemnts of those who through effort got educated.. It brings to mind that we seem to be saying this is inspiring and any one can get educated through their own effort... here is a letter from a teacher that brings to light the failings.. under these circumstances what child can be educated ?????
All I want from a goverment is heath care, security, education and infrastructure.....
LETTER OF THE DAY - Education for the underclass
Published: Friday | September 3, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
The Editor, Sir:
In 1991, I was a recent college graduate and was ready to 'take on the world' of teaching, when I was introduced to a primary school class of 63 students. Although horrified, I tried my best to encourage all the students, some of whom had no seats, to participate in class activities, to complete assigned work, to pay attention and to get on with the business of learning. However, the class size made it impossible for me to achieve stated objectives at the end of each day.
In June of this year, while sharing with a class of primary school teachers, I was stunned to discover that in some primary schools overcrowding was the norm. Twenty years later and the situation in some of our classrooms have remained the same in respect to the student-teacher ratio. One teacher from a Kingston school reported having 73 students in her 'low stream' class.
How can one teacher be expected to deliver quality education if the class size is so outsized? In cases like these, there is usually not enough furniture to allow students to sit comfortably and focus on the lesson. Neither is the environment conducive to learning, since there is bound to be those with behavioural problems. Not even a super-teacher can effectively manage 73 energetic youngsters.
It is a fact that many of these large classes are found in schools which consist of students from the lower socio-economic strata of society. These students might be the ones who are plagued with hunger, sleeplessness, lack of needed resources, family issues, exposure to crime and a generally uncomfortable social life. These are probably the same students who are ushered into overcrowded classrooms. There is not much that a teacher can do for a child in such a setting. Only the focussed will survive in such a classroom - the children who are withdrawn, unsettled, nervous, apprehensive, tired or disruptive will not survive. Possibly, they will be overlooked, forgotten or rejected.
Impossible task
A teacher might not find it possible to mark 73 pieces of class work, containing several questions in one hour. So too, it might not be possible for a teacher to give personal attention to all 73 eager (and not so eager) students in one day. What is the student-teacher ratio in our primary schools anyway? Could it be 35:1? Well, at least not for some schools.
How then do we propose to have our students in certain schools achieve acceptable levels of literacy? Education is one of the main vehicles for achieving social mobility. Are some of these schools factories for those who will remain in the lower socio-economic strata of society? Could it be that the education system simply serves to reproduce the social structure of society?
I am, etc.,
FLORETTE WILLIAMS
[email protected]
Portmore, St Catherine