Where are all the men?

Kenneth King, Programme Officer of the Adult and Continuing Education Division, has lamented the absence of men at the various zonal classes.{{more}}

King, who was speaking at the division’s press conference to mark their inaugural Adult Education Week on Monday, said that he believes if men continue to stay away from such programmes, a society will emerge where women will be far more educated and men will be left behind.

“Whenever that happens, we are going to end up with a set of conflicts in the homes because when the men cannot reason with the women, most often than not, they tend to use their hands to communicate.”

King noted that at most of the classes organized by the division, which offers academic and skills training lessons, a vast majority of the students, and in some cases, all are female.

He highlighted a recent graduation ceremony in Bequia for designers, where only one participant was male.

“We tried to hold an upholstery class in Spring Village, not one male showed interest. We did gardening and landscaping; they were outnumbered again by females at all ages; we expected at least those will be filled with males.”

At the press conference, five women were recognized for attaining high grades in the Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competency (CCSLC) examinations, a precursor to the CSEC examinations.

King noted that marketing methods need to be employed to entice men to participate, and called on the women in the programmes to encourage the males in their lives to join.

“If you have sons, nephews, uncles, fathers, spouses, bring them to the classes.

If they can’t make money from it, they show less interest; you have to show them the money side of it (or) before long, if you don’t help us they will be working for less money and that means you have to work harder to mind them.”

(JJ)