By Anthony S. Johnson, ContributorTHE CXC results for 2002 continue to provide the nation with a system where the majority are disadvantaged from an early age, while a minority gets through.
Of the 36,930 students who entered grade 11 last year, 10,236 passed English (27.7 per cent), while 26,694 (72.3 per cent) graduated with no certificate in this vital subject.
All studies in every country show that people who enter the labour force without a sound education have a very slim chance of success. The most depressing statistic in the annual Labour Force Report of STATIN tells us that in the labour force of 1.1 million in October, 2002, 823,300 persons declared they had received no training. In other words 74 per cent were not properly prepared for employment. The problem began within the education system and was transferred to the employment sector.
The results of English and mathematics in the CXC examinations show the clear crisis which exists in our school system. We use these subjects because these are required for any further training in all fields. However, the major problem lies with the small number of children allowed to sit the exams, as follows:
ALARMING STATISTICS
Table one shows that more than half of the children are not being allowed to take the CXC exam in the first place, even after spending five years at the secondary level. The teachers are unanimous in their reason for not allowing the students to sit the exam they are definitely not ready.
This is a most damning statement since it means they have not been adequately prepared. The teachers are again unanimous that the 'not ready' condition started from the day they were admitted in the school, and despite their best efforts, they were not able to make the transformation. Massive efforts to correct the problems at grade 7 and grade 8 (ages 12-14) are sorely needed.
This is not the most dramatic part. The most glaring fact which emerges from a study of the results is the massive divide between the results of students who attended secondary high schools and those who attended upgraded high schools.
From the data, the following emerges:
1. At the traditional high schools between 2000 and 2002, of the total number in grade 11, 80 per cent were permitted to sit English Language and over 70 per cent were allowed to sit mathematics. The maths entrants seemed to have hit a plateau, which is worrying.
2. At the upgraded high schools over the same period, less than one third were permitted to sit the English examination. In mathematics, less than one quarter were allowed to sit.
3. In both subjects, the percentage allowed to sit the exam rose slightly over the period, particularly in English, from 26 per cent to 31 per cent, but the entire system was turning out a majority of students who would have a problem fitting into modern occupations.
Because of the lopsided screening process, there is no doubt that students at the new schools have a tremendous handicap. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, since there is no doubt about it. IT IS THE SYSTEM WHICH IS FAILING, NOT THE STUDENTS. EVERYONE KNOWS THAT JAMAICANS ARE BRIGHT NOT JUST A FEW.
RADICAL PRUNING NOT WORKING
Marcus Garvey, addressing this very problem, said: "There is nothing common to man, that man cannot do."
The examination results show the same difference between the two types of schools:
Despite the radical pruning of students, the results in both types of schools also vary markedly, as follows:
1. In 2002, traditional school students had 71 per cent passes in English, while the new schools had 34 per cent passes.
2. In 2002, traditional school students had 49 per cent passes in mathematics, while the new schools had 17 per cent.
3. Over the three years, however, while there seems a clear trend of improvement at the traditional schools, there was an up and down movement at the new schools. In English, there was improvement from 30 per cent passes in 2000 to 38 per cent passes in 2001, only to have this reversed in 2002, when passes fell to 34 per cent. In mathematics, the new schools had a disastrous fall from 19 per cent passes in 2000 to only 11 per cent passes in 2001, but recovered to 17 per cent passes in 2002.
The effect of these results on children is not good. Failure to pass an exam is not a failure in one's entire life experience. It merely means that one has not mastered a particular subject on a particular day.
But when an entire cohort at a school find that only one or two students pass from four or five streams amounting to 200 or more which entered and studied for five long years, the effect must be calamitous. In 2002, there were eleven schools which had five or less passes in English of a total grade 11 enrolment of 1,656 in those streams. This was, for all concerned, a disaster.
In maths, the situation was worse. There were seven schools which had zero passes. And 22 schools had less than 10 per cent passes, even after disallowing 80 per cent of the classes from taking the exam.
The results of the CXC showed that some Jamaican students can beat the world, as we came first in the world in general paper from a past student of a new high school. Seven schools achieved passes of over 90 per cent of the students who sat English and six schools achieved passes of over 80 per cent of the students who sat maths.
Some countries need to have experts tell them where their problems lie. Jamaica does not have to look any further than these results to see that our schooling of adolescents is in serious trouble. The teachers are not magicians. If they do not have the necessary resources to correct the problems and to make the appropriate adjustments, then the disastrous results will continue. The fact that some schools do well shows that when the conditions are right, so will be the results.
Senator Anthony Johnson is the JLP Spokesman on Education, Science and Technology.
