Empowering our youths through education

Speech By The Honourable Minister Of Education, National Reconciliation And Information St Clair Prince

Every year during the month of May we seek to draw more attention to our children here in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
As I am sure everyone is aware, the Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines places priority on ensuring that our young people are empowered through education and so we remain committed to the Education Revolution. Secondly, we support the principles of human rights, the promotion of social justice, the provision of quality education, equality of opportunity, and the right to a basic education for all.

Over the years our education system has made great strides in providing our children universal access to secondary education and we have made significant inroads in providing primary education to our children.

The theme for Child Month for 2018, is appropriate at this juncture, in education: “Stand up! Reach Tall! Inclusive Education for All!” while the slogan is “Every Child is Special”
There are three major tenets that are embedded in our Child Month theme and slogan this year. These are “stand up”, “reach tall” and “inclusive education”. You would have heard the words “stand up” very often throughout your education journey. This indicates movement from wherever you are to another position, usually taking you to a higher level than where you were while seated. It is therefore a call to move beyond where you are; to not settle for just sitting comfortably but to take on greater challenges.

Secondly, we look at “Reaching tall”. Horace Mann said, “A human being is not attaining his/her full heights unless he/she is educated.” Reaching tall “means that you are not just reaching for more, but for as much as you can. You can achieve anything you wish in life or go anywhere because you have the opportunity or ability to do so. The government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has put the tools in your hands to enable you to “reach tall” but you have to use those tools. We have provided textbooks on the Book Loan Scheme, schools are being refurbished and teachers are certified. These are the tools that will facilitate your ability to “reach tall”. And so, I ask, what will you do with these tools?
Thirdly, I wish to examine the notion of “Inclusive Education”. Our school systems are called upon to raise standards, develop social and personal skills, broaden curricula, pay greater attention to equal educational opportunities, and prepare young people for rapidly changing world. Inclusive education means simply, embracing all these challenges, using an approach to education that supports and welcomes diversity amongst all learners.

The hallmark of an effective school is one where attempts are made to ensure that every child has a place to study and teachers become facilitators of learning rather than providers of information. This concept must be clearly understood. Our starting point must be the acknowledgement that every child is different, and that children develop differently, have different personalities, possess different strengths, and require different kinds of support to meet their individual needs. All children have different strengths and vulnerabilities. Some are good at sport, others are good at music, still others show aptitudes to different subject areas.

It is normal for children to experience developmental spurts and slow spots in different areas of their development over time. Most of the time, given the right nurturing and stimulation, all children will catch up in the end. I am quite aware, nevertheless, that some children have problems that cannot be solved by placing them in the mainstream classrooms.
The children who experience developmental delays are those who are not achieving milestones within the age range of what is normally associated with it. Initially, it may be difficult or impossible to determine whether the delay is the marker of a long-term issue with development or learning (i.e. known as a disability) or, whether the child will ‘catch-up’ and behave ‘typical’ in their development and learning. What is important is that we provide access to education.

As we meander the stream of inclusive education, it is important for all involved to be a positive part of the process. Children have to be taught tolerance and acceptance of individual differences. It is important that they understand that name calling, bullying and other negative behaviours towards their fellow classmates or neighbourhood friends is unacceptable.
Parents, another key player must also be aware of these individual differences and thus refrain from comparing their children with other children but rather encourage them to be at their own best.
There are many successful persons who had learning difficulties. A disability should not prevent our children from learning.

The government of St. Vincent recognizes the importance of inclusive education and is ready to work towards its implementation. Schools that have been completed recently have had ramps and are able to accommodate wheelchair access and this will continue, both in refurbishing exercises and new institutions to be built.

As I close, I wish to remind all, parents, guardians, teachers, communities, that childhood is from 0 – 18 years and that we seek as a Ministry to promote holistic education through this period.
Let us all realize, that, according to Magna Gerber, “Childhood is not a race to see how quickly a child can read, write and count. It is a small window to learn and develop at the pace that is right for each individual child”.

An adapted version of a poem that captures how special children are, reads: A child is NOT a statistic, not a number, NOT a diagnosis, but a person with different abilities, taking on a difficult world. He or she proves every day,That he or she is a MIRACLE. God bless the children of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.