?Last week the Ministry of Education issued a statement informing the public of a pilot study whereby co-ed (former junior and senior secondary) schools are to be converted to single-sex educational institutions. I must say, as a postgraduate student in the field of education, I was quite disturbed by this new prospect.
Once again, it is apparent the ministry has come to its own crass conclusions that the reason the "prestige" schools are excelling academically is because these schools cater to one sex. I absolutely disagree with such vulgar postulations and I would love if the ministry could publish local evidence and research to support these claims. You cannot have such drastic changes simply based on the performance of two single-sex government-run schools. These two schools have excelled because students who perform exceptionally well at the SEA attend these schools, thus putting them in the category of "prestige" schools in the country. And even if there is international evidence to suggest that the results would be positive, our situation is unique since these "former junior secondary" schools are placed at the bottom of the hierarchical structure of secondary schools in the country, thus cementing their fate. The obvious reason, which the ministry either keeps missing or conveniently ignores, is the nationwide streaming called Secondary Entrance Assessment. It is quite evident that there is a concentration of lower academic achievers, many of which are members of the lower socio-economic brackets, at these former junior secondary schools. This hasn't changed!
You would not see a child who has achieved 90 per cent at the SEA attending one of these schools, nor would you see a former junior secondary school as a first choice. Why is this so? Therefore, you cannot expect that by making these schools single-sex institutes that it will have any significant impact on their levels of academic achievement. If the Minister of Education (Esther Le Gendre) really wants to make a difference, she must have a mix of higher and lower achievers from the SEA attending these former junior and senior secondary schools, thereby removing this image of a "good" school and a "bad" school. You cannot change the mindset and culture of a school by simply changing its name. I am personally investigating the former junior secondary schools for my thesis (M Phil in sociology with focus in education) and I have visited six of the 20 schools carded for conversion, during my research. I can assure you that gender is not the main issue with regard to academic performance of these students. These students have it much harder due to their socio-economic position in society, rudimentary literacy and numeracy skills, and dealing with the public's negative perception and stigma attached to these schools.
These are the children the ministry should focus on helping! Many of these teachers must be applauded for what they have to deal with and the innovative ways they must initiate daily to grasp the attention of these students in order to make a positive difference in their lives. You hear time and time again that the education system has failed the majority of the populace. The high levels of crime, delinquency and the mindset of the people are tantamount to this. There is definitely a disconnect in this country between research and policy making since it is quite clear that policies are created and implemented in an ad-hoc manner, leaving much to be desired.
The ministry needs to work hand in hand with researchers and the relevant stakeholders to understand what is really going on in the education system if it truly wants to have any positive impact in these children's lives. If the ministry goes full steam ahead with this project and does not make the necessary amendments, there is not going to be any significant change in the academic performance of these students and in this case it's going to result in the same difference.
?Sara Chookolingo
UWI, St Augustine