Dr. Gonsalves, Ollivierre differ on the delivery of education

Parliamentary Representative for the Southern Grenadines, Terrance Ollivierre, and Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves agree on the importance of secondary education, but disagree on how that education should be delivered.{{more}}

The two politicians voiced their varying positions during the opening of the Union Island Secondary School on Tuesday, August 31.

Ollivierre, of the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) said the nation’s secondary schools should be comprehensive, imparting both academic knowledge and practical skills.

“We need a curriculum that is broad based, to meet our developmental needs,” Ollivierre said, adding that this should be inextricably linked to the job market.

“We should not cater only for the academics, but we should be mindful that our school takes on the emphasis of a comprehensive school where both the academics and the skills are given paramount importance,” the former teacher added.

He said beautiful school buildings must be coupled with a curriculum that meet the needs of the country and allow students to compete internationally, with emphasis not only on the number of students in school.

Ollivierre said that through education, children from poor families can realize their full potential, adding that the motto of the Union Island Secondary School – “Not only for school, but for life” – was “most appropriate”.

He said the “bandied about” term “education is for living and production” must have real meaning.

“What we learn in school, after we leave secondary school, must determine how we survive in the community in which we live; how well we use what we get in order to produce to make sure our country moves forward,” he said.

Ollivierre said many nations were moving towards a knowledge based economy, adding that many students in the Southern Grenadines attend secondary school in St. Vincent in an attempt to access “elite schools”.

“What we have to make sure, is that the Union Island Secondary School comes on par with any school on mainland St. Vincent. As I always say, ‘what exists in town must exist in country’.”

He suggested that the school be developed to offer technical and vocational education to students, including adults, with classes even at night.

But Gonsalves, who is leader of the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP), said that Ollivierre’s views on comprehensive secondary schools was “profoundly mistaken”, adding that comprehensive schools have been a failure worldwide.

“I understand his idea that he wants to see more technical and vocational education. But, he is entirely wrong in how he wants to achieve that,” Gonsalves said.

“If you have a comprehensive secondary school, you will teach everything and end up teaching nothing,” added Gonsalves who is a former university lecturer.

He said secondary schools are required to teach the competencies in mathematics, sciences, foreign languages, information technology, history and appropriate cultural studies and critical thinking.

He said local secondary schools also examine students in technical drawing, woodwork, electrical and information technology, food and nutrition, and home economics.

Gonsalves said one of the problems with the nation’s education system was “the absence of critical thinking embedded inside of every single syllabus and the absence of a specific course called ‘critical thinking’”.

“…You have to avoid, therefore, rote learning. You have to get away from a banking concept of education … [where you] treat the student’s head like a bank in which you put deposits so that you can mechanically retrieve those deposits when you need them,” Gonsalves said.

“That is not education,” he said, adding, “You have to have critical reasoning and critical thinking embedded. We must do that in the primary schools, we must do that in the secondary schools.” (KXC)