Defying the rules and regulations governing the placement of students at secondary level schools could see education officials being publicly dismissed. This candid assertion was made by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, during a verbal but constructive face-off between senior education officials and a faction of the alumni of President’s College yesterday.
Manickchand appealed for persons to prove her wrong that since she assumed the position of Education Minister two years ago she has not been privy to instances that children were placed at schools without the requisite scores. “You have to make the cut off score before you can enter a particular school…I am not very popular because people come to me and say their child lost one mark for a particular school but that doesn’t mean they are admitted to the school they request if they don’t have the score,” asserted the Education Minister.
Her response was forthcoming even as she addressed concerns leveled by the old students that the quality of students admitted at President’s College today has been deliberately lowered.
The round table forum venued at the Kingston, Georgetown, National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) saw a number of other concerns being highlighted with a view of bringing about much needed clarity with regards to daunting developments that have occurred since its doors opened in 1985.
Assertive questions were vocalised by a number of the old students in attendance, among them popular personalities the likes of Toussant Boyce, Ruel Johnson and Kwesi Isles with the latter seeking to specifically ascertain what role geography played in placement at the school.
Other issues ranging from the true status of the school and it’s changing intake to infrastructural shortcomings and limited teaching staff and even the implications of the proposed new education legislation were raised at the forum in the quest to putting intervening measures in place that would lend to restoring the former image of the school.
Speaking during the deliberation, which saw the Minister being doggedly supported by Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, it was highlighted that some of the challenges that the school has faced in recent times cannot be divorced from what occurred under the previous administration. Manickchand also made a point of noting that the possibility exists that some of the challenges that the school has faced could not only be regional but even internal rather than external.
The secondary level school is operated by a board with financial backing from Government.
According to Minister Manickchand, while investment in the school in question was never an issue, Government’s decision to offer residential places to other students from outlying regions and non-residential places to students along the east coast was driven by the fact that those who were originally eligible did not opt to attend the school. However, the Minister asserted that there has always been a cut off mark that students must attain in order to attend the school.
She also pointed out that some of the top secondary schools that students accept in the city have some of the similar challenges as President’s College.
The concerns regarding the placement were particularly triggered by media reports by some sections of the media, which according to the Minister, have misrepresented her deliberations on the matter.
At a press conference in early June to unveil the results of the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) the Minister had revealed that although it was created to be the country’s top secondary school with residential provision more than three decades ago, today President’s College no longer boasts this status.
This she linked to the fact that the school is currently not functioning in the capacity in which it was designed since “it is not meeting the needs of our children best.” She however noted that the school remains one of the country’s senior secondary schools providing instructions that are on par with other top schools.
And although the school was not highlighted among the top secondary schools to which NGSA candidates were allotted, the Minister said that 203 children from across Guyana have been awarded a place there.
As an ‘A’ List school, Minister Manickchand explained that President’s College is the top secondary school on the East Coast of Demerara. Moreover, candidates residing between Cummings Lodge and Mahaica who attain 491 or more at the NGSA are awarded non-residential placement at President’s College.
Added to this she disclosed that candidates from the far-flung Regions of One, Two, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine and 10 who have the stipulated high scores are permitted residential placement at the school.
Moreover, the Minister said that “it is actually serving more persons and more needy persons now.”
But according to the Minister, during the forum yesterday, she is prepared to help restore the school to its former status thus the need for constructive discussion to plot the way towards this direction.
Aside from the members of the school’s alumni, the meeting yesterday also saw members of the Board of Governors and the school’s administration in attendance. The forum was also graced by Director of NCERD, Jennifer Cumberbatch; the Ministry’s Schools Board Coordinator, Melcita Bovell and Assistant Chief Education Officer, Ms Doodmattie Singh.
Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2014/07/13/dismissal-for-education-officials-who-allow-unauthorized-placement-of-students-manickchand/