Letter of the Day | Leave no child behind

THE EDITOR, Sir:

In the 'Letter of the Day' of December 31, R. Pinado, in addressing the issue of 'rogue administrators' in our public schools closed by asking, "What does the Ministry of Education have to say about these schools that breach all guidelines under the Education Act and Regulations without being sanctioned?"

I have long held the view that the Ministry of Education operates as an organisation of egotistical 'nincompoops'. In fact, some of the education officers, et al, don't seem to have the capacity to understand that they are collecting taxpayers' money by false pretence.

The education ministry operates too much as a facilitator of whatever the local administration of schools enact and not as a monitoring agent for the implementation of sound policies that would properly educate and train the nation to become excellent workers and entrepreneurs.

It seems that free-for-all is the new autonomy of principals and boards of many of these public schools. One can observe that the operations at many church-operated schools and others with strong and focused alumni sometimes have to stand up firmly against some of the stupid dictates of the Ministry of Education.

In many of these schools, their only strong point is in dismissing pedagogues that refuse to carry out the school's sometimes stupid dictates. So some teachers, like the one mentioned recently in the news with the

13- year-old being sidelined for indecent language, are lauded for reporting student misconduct so that they can show who's the boss. Their intention should really be how to reform and not how to recuse such students from their 'hallowed halls'. Too many schools are turning out illiterate, unskilled and aesthetically and socially bankrupt youth and are not concerned enough about the students' total welfare. The result is that these unemployable youth can only fit into criminal gangs.

The minister of education, along with the ministry, needs to urgently get a hold of themselves and realise that their role is to equip all students with the social, academic, co-curricular and practical skills needed to be considered personally and professionally useful to themselves and society. No child is to be left behind, but rather, if they appear to be misfits, the effort must be made to have the appropriate behaviour-modification strategies applied.

a'Lerroy Brown llbrown00@gmail.com