Do Not Zone Children Without Minimum Standards For All Schools
The Ministry of education had proposed the zoning of children long ago, and will be doing that with this year’s GSAT awardees.
Why is it favorable for Mr.Thwaites to even think of doing that this year when the lack of resources and infrastructures in all the schools are not addressed? Educational inequality is at the heart of this. This will show the striking disparities in school quality between the rich and the poor even though they aren’t a secret. Many who have had the opportunity to step foot inside an uptown school and an inner city school would have to be blind not to recognize the difference in class.
If such did not exist, why would children be pressured and urged to sit an exam where their achieved grades would give them a chance to grace these schools, and why would the parents put out the extra effort and be willing to go the extra mile for their kids to be given a place? The hard work and dedication of the students should serve as a window into the inequalities that permeate the Jamaican school system and the society at large.
Zoning the children without proper planning and implementation in creating better schools for all the “bright” kids to work in will restrict students’ performance, prevent them from getting the quality education they need, thus creating economic segregation, which ultimately affects their economic futures and those of their communities.
Students have been travelling to these schools over the years and have been making their marks in society. The students who do not attend school on time and loiter around the bus stations are students who truly want to do that. This happens for all the schools and zoning will not get students to change, in fact, this may turn many into deviants.
The zoning of children is a good move and will have its benefits for students and parents on a whole, but if it is to be effective,there MUST be minimum standards for all our schools to effect learning and the GSAT Exam should be abolished.
Sherron Griffiths
Ms Griffiths is talking a lot of sense here. Where would come the impetus to excel, if all we can is reach one level or standard, The ones that excel are the doctors, engineers, Jamaica Scholars of to-morrow.
what I understand is … the top performers will still have their choice of schools, it is the students with lower grades who will attend the schools closest to their home. So there is still impetus to excel.
if they are zoning children, they should do it for all. doing it for some is bias. The ministry needs to sort out their actions before publicizing information that will create problems. If one should look at what is happening at the bus stations, most of the students who loiter there are those going to traditional high schools.
What needs to be done is that all the schools should be equipped to cater for all students. We will always have ineffective and low exam passes if the resources at the schools are limited.