The truth is far from what is being peddled
October 20, 2011 | By KNews Editorial
In this the election season the nation is often regaled with the great deeds that the incumbent has done. People hear of the massive infrastructural development, the expenditures in health and education and on the other social services, and of the host of other developments that have placed the country at the cusp of the new century.
Often the history of the country is distorted leaving people to believe that everything good only happened in the post-1992 era, only after the new government took office. For example, on Wednesday, Education Minister Shaik Baksh detailed the vast improvements in the education sector. To hear him talk, one would be left to conclude that Guyana was a most backward country prior to 1992, especially in the area of education.
And Minister Baksh is not the only one. The nation has heard that Amerindian development only began after 1992. The Amerindian Affairs Minister has been heard to say that the Amerindians were the most neglected people in the country. They achieved nothing and they were allowed to contribute even less.
Another Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues, even told the nation that there were no secondary schools in Amerindian communities, that there were no Amerindian doctors. She avoided reporting that there were also no Amerindian teachers.
Every government would seek to regale itself with all good things but to distort history to such an extent can only mean one thing, that the government which has been in power for nineteen years is talking to the young people who would know nothing but the present government in office. The aim is also to make these young people who make up about two-thirds of the population believe that what went before was surely not governance.
But it is the most recent utterances by the Education Minister that warrant notice. He told a national awards ceremony that passes at external examinations were ridiculously low. In fact, for the most part, less than twenty percent of those offering the examinations were successful. He said that today the improvement is pronounced.
Those who were born prior to 1992 and lived in this country are left to wonder whether the bulk of the population was either illiterate or semi-literate. One must then wonder at the quality of the people who manned the public service, who taught in the schools, who were the doctors and lawyers, the accountants and the other professionals.
One is also left to wonder about the numerous students who left these shores and accredited themselves with such distinction that they placed Guyana on the academic map. Also left to boggle the minds are the numerous drives to secure Guyanese for just about everything, from teachers to legal authorities. There is no need to name the people at this time.
Even the Education Minister had cause to remark that Guyana is facing a terrible brain drain and that the nation is hard pressed to replace these people. The solution, he is on record as saying, is to train even more people. This has been echoed by the Minister of Health who is presiding over a less that competent medical staff at the public institutions.
With the pass rate being what Minister Baksh claims was the case. One could only conclude that the bulk of the population comprised people who were perhaps very technically inclined, who were the farmers and who were the domestics.
There are many things wrong with the figures being bandied about. Indeed less people wrote the external examinations because the authorities were aware of who were capable of performing. A careful review of the performances of the various schools would reveal that their pass rates were superior to what passes today.
Children did not write the number of subjects that those of today do because those were not examination subjects. Further, every school had an ample number of mathematics, English and Science teachers. Surely Minister Baksh would not wish to explain how, with the preponderance of such teachers how the pass rates were as atrocious as the Minister says they were.
It is one thing to distort history; it is another thing to deliberately mislead the nation to justify a mediocre performance. The Minister talks about the higher level of matriculation. In the past, there was no need to lower entrance qualifications as is the case today.
And for the records, it was a former Education Minister, Rev Dale Bisnauth, who during the post 1992 era, proclaimed that some seventy per cent of those who were graduating from the University of Guyana were functional illiterates.
October 20, 2011 | By KNews Editorial
In this the election season the nation is often regaled with the great deeds that the incumbent has done. People hear of the massive infrastructural development, the expenditures in health and education and on the other social services, and of the host of other developments that have placed the country at the cusp of the new century.
Often the history of the country is distorted leaving people to believe that everything good only happened in the post-1992 era, only after the new government took office. For example, on Wednesday, Education Minister Shaik Baksh detailed the vast improvements in the education sector. To hear him talk, one would be left to conclude that Guyana was a most backward country prior to 1992, especially in the area of education.
And Minister Baksh is not the only one. The nation has heard that Amerindian development only began after 1992. The Amerindian Affairs Minister has been heard to say that the Amerindians were the most neglected people in the country. They achieved nothing and they were allowed to contribute even less.
Another Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues, even told the nation that there were no secondary schools in Amerindian communities, that there were no Amerindian doctors. She avoided reporting that there were also no Amerindian teachers.
Every government would seek to regale itself with all good things but to distort history to such an extent can only mean one thing, that the government which has been in power for nineteen years is talking to the young people who would know nothing but the present government in office. The aim is also to make these young people who make up about two-thirds of the population believe that what went before was surely not governance.
But it is the most recent utterances by the Education Minister that warrant notice. He told a national awards ceremony that passes at external examinations were ridiculously low. In fact, for the most part, less than twenty percent of those offering the examinations were successful. He said that today the improvement is pronounced.
Those who were born prior to 1992 and lived in this country are left to wonder whether the bulk of the population was either illiterate or semi-literate. One must then wonder at the quality of the people who manned the public service, who taught in the schools, who were the doctors and lawyers, the accountants and the other professionals.
One is also left to wonder about the numerous students who left these shores and accredited themselves with such distinction that they placed Guyana on the academic map. Also left to boggle the minds are the numerous drives to secure Guyanese for just about everything, from teachers to legal authorities. There is no need to name the people at this time.
Even the Education Minister had cause to remark that Guyana is facing a terrible brain drain and that the nation is hard pressed to replace these people. The solution, he is on record as saying, is to train even more people. This has been echoed by the Minister of Health who is presiding over a less that competent medical staff at the public institutions.
With the pass rate being what Minister Baksh claims was the case. One could only conclude that the bulk of the population comprised people who were perhaps very technically inclined, who were the farmers and who were the domestics.
There are many things wrong with the figures being bandied about. Indeed less people wrote the external examinations because the authorities were aware of who were capable of performing. A careful review of the performances of the various schools would reveal that their pass rates were superior to what passes today.
Children did not write the number of subjects that those of today do because those were not examination subjects. Further, every school had an ample number of mathematics, English and Science teachers. Surely Minister Baksh would not wish to explain how, with the preponderance of such teachers how the pass rates were as atrocious as the Minister says they were.
It is one thing to distort history; it is another thing to deliberately mislead the nation to justify a mediocre performance. The Minister talks about the higher level of matriculation. In the past, there was no need to lower entrance qualifications as is the case today.
And for the records, it was a former Education Minister, Rev Dale Bisnauth, who during the post 1992 era, proclaimed that some seventy per cent of those who were graduating from the University of Guyana were functional illiterates.