The Editor
Bahamas Press
31 August 2023
Dear BP,
Each year the Ministry of Education officials tell us what we already know. That Bahamian High School students are on the average performing far below the standards required to produce a knowledgeable work force and productive citizens.
They twist themselves in knots with their lame excuses and seem to forget that these abysmal examination results predated the Covid-19 pandemic.
The problem is that politicians seek to offend the least amount of people by not holding them to account for these results and here I am speaking about the BUT.
This grouping apparently terrifies Ministers of Education, and this has been so for years. They are single-minded and unrelenting in their quest for more money and perks yet despite this getting all they can squeeze out of the system, examination results remain terrible.
In the real world some students do well in examinations and others for whatever reasons do poorly. The Ministry of Education needs to locate these groups and reward or remedy where required.
A good place to start is to disaggregate the examination results by schools instead of mixing the educational wheat with the chaff as is the current custom. Publish the BGCSE examination results separately for each school so that parents can see how the school their children attend compares with the others.
In a time of educational emergency, the Minister must have the political will to challenge the heads and administrators of poorly performing schools to do better.
But only disaggregating the exam results will reveal who they are.
Once this disaggregation of results is complete. leave the issue of these quarrelsome teachers to the concerned, involved parents.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Brown
