This is a presentation from the Ministry of Man-to-Man and Brothers & Sisters who have covenanted with us. We talk to you Man-to-Man because men are supposed to be in charge of giving direction. We thank God for you today. We thank God for the opportunity to talk to you about “Boys and Education”. We will look back to chart a course for going forward. This is education month and the theme is “Transforming the Classroom for the Twenty-First Century.” Boys and education: What is happening to boys in school? Why boys are not in school? Look at photographs of all who are doing well. For CSEC and Grade 6 there are many pictures of girls doing well. We recall the time of all-boys-schools such as Saints. There was a performance of boys that was satisfying. Reflect on our national scholars of that time. We don’t want to blame but we want to address the issue. We need to know what’s happening to boys. When you check for drop outs, boys dominate. I had an interesting conversation with the head of a private school who made an astonishing comment. She said we have done all we can but at the last thanks-giving not a single boy earned a prize. Boys are not motivated. We have seen in the press reports about performance in Math and English that leave much to be desired kaieteurnewsonline/2013/08/14/guyana-did-exceptionally-well-at-csec-education-minister/ We read of child who got 20 subjects. We thank God and celebrate that. This child wrote the exam with others who struggled in Math and English. Struggling in Math and English is a real struggle because these are our core subject. Having spent 14 years in our school system in Guyana children couldn’t pass Math and English - the bread and butter subjects. We have a policy that says if you are going on to CAPE or UG you have to have Math. When you analyze what this means, children after 13 years in the system who have no Math and English can’t move on. Our purpose here is to describe the problem. We have talked about the lessons culture. Some say that because of lessons children are not doing well in school. When our children can’t get into university after 13 years, what do they do? They have to go back to lessons or some go off to work. We have a problem. Boys are suffering more than girls in this situation. Every year we are graduating more girls than boys. Even the average students in the school, the girls are doing better than the boys. In Luke 2:52 we learn that Jesus increased [grew] in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. Wisdom is not just knowledge but the likelihood that the knowledge will be applied rightly. Stature – physical health and well-being: food rest and exercise healthy habits and so much more. Favour with God – spiritual receptivity: the teaching of values - God’s word to head, heart, hands - roundedness. Favour with man – social gifts and graces; education that makes you fit to live and fit to live with. While we celebrate those with 20 subjects we should look at roundedness. This applies to boys and girls. That Jesus grew in stature made me remember my time in school. Boys played as part of the school experience. I don’t mean getting into trouble; I’m talking about organized games. It has been established that boys learn through adventure also. The education system is carried by sisters who work hard and we are grateful. But a boy needs a man. At home there is a missing man and school is almost exclusively females. This week I did a staff development session at a primary school. Of the 25 educators, 2 are male! To retain teachers remuneration needs to be adequate - whether the teacher is male or female. Years ago teachers were known to abscond from the classroom during crop season to go cut cane. With due regard to the cane cutters - mind should guide hand. When teachers win the nation wins! Education is the platform for everything else. Equality of education depends on how prepared the person is to learn. We are suffering and will suffer more. Many men have had to move on. It shouldn’t be that for survival you have to of necessity leave the profession or leave the country. We have to deal with it as a nation. We have to do better. We desperately need to make education a priority. We need to declare a state of emergency! I hope the entire Government will come together and say “Let’s fix this!” We say children are our future – Transforming classrooms for the Twenty-First Century. We have started something that we think will start a national discussion. This is a spiritual matter also. Thank you for praying.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 13:46:52 +0000
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