CPEA: Not just “My Child”, but “Our Children”

As has become our annual custom following the release of the results of the CPEA examination, congratulations have been expressed to the successful students, teachers and schools, as well as parents and all those who had a hand in the success of the students.

These are, of course, very well deserved as should be words of praise and support to officials in the Ministry of Education who worked hard to facilitate the process.

Today we take a lot for granted, including automatic access by primary school students to secondary school education. We have indeed come a long way in access to basic education by all primary school pupils. There was a time, before the introduction of the Common Entrance examination and then the CPEA, when there were separate exams for Entrance and Scholarship, the latter on a more limited basis, while some private secondary schools had their own examinations. Those are today relics of the past.

We have now become accustomed to success rates to the extent that the examination results are subjected to public scrutiny from all sorts of angles. No doubt, public scrutiny is welcome and necessary but there are those, on one side of the political fence or the other, who demonstrate more interest in attributing political factors to explain fluctuations in success rates. Would it not be more beneficial to educational development for our country to examine our educational system and its future than to engage in such needless debates?

One aspect of the annual exercise has been the emphasis on individuality, on “my child”, ignoring the wider implications for the whole society. It is quite natural for parents to not only exhibit pride in the accomplishments of their children, but also to seek the best opportunities for their offspring; it is your responsibility. However, we live in a society and the future of our children’s education does not depend only on the efforts of parents and their children. They are social beings like the rest of us, and their future does not only lie in their hands. Those students when they enter secondary schools must interact with children from all kinds of backgrounds, social, and economic experiences.

Should we not therefore, whether as parents with direct interests, or citizens concerned about the future of our society, take a broader view of this aspect of our educational advancement? Would it not be in our common interest for us to take an approach which encompasses not just our own children but all of them, in other words “Our Children”?

As happens in life, not all the successful CPEA students will fulfil their potential. Indeed, not all of them will complete their secondary education, for a variety of reasons. An examination of our prison system will reveal that many inmates, convicted or awaiting trial, have been at one time among some of the “promising” students. What has happened along the way?

We, therefore, need to have an interest in the fate of each batch, about the factors which can impede their educational progress and divert their attention. Let us consider them all as “Our Children”, the fate of whom can affect the progress of our entire society.

We also extend heartiest congratulations to all those students who were successful; and to say to those who were not- do not consider yourself a failure!