THE EDITOR, Sir:
MUCH CONCERN has been expressed about the present education system by many persons including the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance and Planning.
In my day at primary school, then known as elementary school, the system of promotion was by ability and not by age as obtains today. Then, a child would remain in a low class until he or she had mastered the requirements of the class, reading and arithmetic, particularly.
On the contrary, the brighter child would be promoted from class to class until he or she was eligible to enter for the examination of the day.
I know of a youngster who entered high school, at agenine. He was the son of teachers and became an outstanding mathematician. What if he were promoted by age? He taught at our university for years but unfortunately he died young. So, a child's background can also dictate how he moves up the ladder.
Under the present system of promotion by age, a slow child can move through the system, and graduate an illiterate person and the brighter ones are likely to be frustrated.
It is my considered opinion that the Ministry of Education should revert to the system of "Promotion by ability, and not by age" in primary schools, or the illiteracy rate will escalate.
I am, etc.,
SYLVIA LESLIE
Sylvia_Leslie1912@yahoo.com
Ewarton, St. Catherine
