Children: the real casualties
Published:Tuesday | May 25, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
The children, especially those sitting Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations are today the real casualties of the state of emergency called for Kingston and St Andrew as a result of the violent upheaval in west Kingston.
Having sat CXC in the mid- 1980s, one would imagine that the experience is a fading memory, but I remember the three years of preparation (we started from third form), months of doing school based assessments (SBAs), hours of lessons, weeks of tests and eventually when the period of CXC exams began so too did the infamous June rains! In fact, I remember changing three uniforms one morning having got soaked after three attempts to get to the exam centre! So we had challenges.
dodging bullets
Today, our youth sitting these exams have experienced preparation similar to ours in the 1980s, but I am sure they would prefer getting drenched by rain rather than dodging bullets! Typically, candidates sitting exams, any exams, often get 'jitters' - a nervousness that can impede a successful display of their academic skills that include their cognitive, affective and psychomotor competencies. So generally, teachers, examining bodies and school administrators seek to create environments which enable their comfort at all costs.
Who among us can deny feeling these 'jitters' even once in our lives? To enable this comfort, for the most part, the candidates sit their exams at their own schools - they are in familiar classrooms seeing the familiar faces of their peers and teachers - all of which help to calm the 'jitters'. Today, our children (even those who are not in Kingston and St Andrew because those being affected are their peers) are having to sit exams at schools to which they are strangers. It may seem simple to be told "just go to X school if you are a student at Y school" (in volatile areas) to sit your exams", but it is not! Comfort is not going to be their experience; their 'jitters' will be compounded. I can't imagine their current mental and emotional state as they dodge bullets to get to their 'new' exam centres!
disturbing
Ultimately, the matter that is most disturbing is that after they have risked their lives to sit these exams in less than familiar settings, their performance in the exams is to be assessed - compared to others in their own schools, schools in other parishes and in other Caribbean territories. Let us remember to include the impact of dodging bullets and the conditions of the 'limited' state of emergency in Kingston and St Andrew and not just the rhetoric - poor teaching, poor teaching, poor teaching!
It has been easy to blame the teacher for the poor performance of our students in the CXC/CSEC exams over the years, despite the obvious contributing factors. Our children have been casualties of inadequate resources, lack of parental involvement and supervision, and poverty to name a few.
Let us pray that our children, sons and daughters of resilient Jamaican ancestry, will survive this unprecedented state of affairs. Let us pray that our children will perform commendably in their CXC exams and will not be badgered if they (and teachers too) don't. Let us ensure that the wounds inflicted on these casualties will be given the requisite attention.
I am, etc.,
DEBBIE HARRIS
Kingston 10.
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