Address by Minister of Education and Culture
Hon. Andrew A. Fahie
Review of School Year 2007/2008
And
Preview of School Year 2008/2009 & Beyond
Thursday, 31st July, 2008
Theme: “Moving Our Education System From Good To Great”
~~Adz:Right~~ROADTOWN, Tortola- Good day to all residents and visitors of these beautiful Virgin Islands. I greet everyone under the sound of my voice in the name of the Great God of the Universe and I pray for His continuous blessings and favour on the people of these beautiful Virgin Islands.
I am Andrew Fahie, Minister of Education and Culture and I am pleased to give a detailed review of the just ended 2007-2008 school year to the people of the Virgin Islands. In addition it is also a pleasure to share with you the future projections for our education system for which together we will be able to move our education system from “Good to Great” in the up coming 2008-2009 school year and beyond.
Our education system has served us well over the years. Whether it be academically, professionally, or otherwise, many Virgin Islanders have received their education foundation compliments of the quality education system that exist in these Virgin Islands. From Virgin Islanders as far back as in the era of names like: Dr. Quincy Lettsome, Dr. Charles Wheatley, Dr. Joel Stevens, Hon. Dancia Penn-Sallah, Justice Janice George-Creque; to a more current era that includes names like: Mr. Marvin Blyden, Dr. Drexel Glasgow, Dr. Mitchell Penn, and even yours truly, just to name a few.
Our education system is a microcosm of our community. This means that as our community undergoes a paradigm shift then so must our education system. As a result, due to the dramatic change and diversity of our community and economy, our education system is presently at the peak of the first mountain top of our education journey. Moving backwards is not an option. Standing still is also not an option.
We must now join forces as a people to build a bridge from the mountain top where we currently exist, joining to the next mountain that is higher than the one we are presently on, so that we can meaningfully stride towards moving forward on the bridge of change thereby continuing our country’s education journey of climbing up the bigger mountain with the aim of reaching to new unseen heights.
Needless to say, we are currently working together in “Moving our education system from good to great”. In order to achieve this we must first chart our course coupled with adopting the pace of nature: Its secret is patience. During this journey we must have a gradual but complete paradigm shift of having our education system transformed into a student based system rather than a teacher based system as currently exist, for the most part. Together we can do it. Together we must do it. Together we shall do it. The secret of success especially for us during our new educational journey of “Moving our Education system from good to great” is to do the common things uncommonly well.
Our education system was established in these islands through our churches. For many years, the churches were responsible for administering education in this country. As time passed, the Government assumed the responsibility of administering education in this Territory. Our rich education history and foundation came as a result of the churches. There is no doubt that the rock on which the churches was able to stand and build on was the great God of the Universe. Needless to say that the churches were successful because they did the common thing of giving the Great God of the Universe the respect and recognition He deserves, uncommonly well.
Bearing this in mind, we went back to the basics by commencing the 2007-2008 school - year with a “Back to School church service” at the New Life Baptist Church. At this service, many local pastors encouraged our students through the word of God, in living a life of principles and values that are pleasing to God. In addition, there were performances by a mass choir of our primary school students as well as performances by other students in our school system.
Visiting Pastor Bishop Joseph Mc Cargo delivered a timely message admonishing parents to help guide their children in a path that will allow them to fulfil the purpose that they were placed on earth by the Great God of the Universe to do. During the service we were able to strengthen our resolve for the new education journey ahead through our newly established pledge for education. Putting the Great God of the Universe as the base at which our education system is anchored, allowed our 2007/2008 school year to be successful.
Needless to say that on September 7th, 2008, 2:30pm at the New Testament Church International Worship Centre, we will begin our 2008/2009 school year in the same manner with the second annual back to school church service. All students, teachers, principals and parents are encouraged to attend as we commence the new school year giving honour, praise and recognition to the “Most High” as well as seek His guidance and favour for the entire school year and for the balance of our education journey of moving our education system from good to great.
As the school year progressed we were able to meaningfully begin to address some of the problems that a few students continue to have with reading fluently and comprehending what they read. We have begun to address this problem with the assistance from some of our retired teachers, principals, among others. This project was initiated at the Ivan Dawson and Isabella Morris Primary Schools and the preliminary result of this initiative is one that has seen remarkable improvements by students in those schools that were identified as having problems with reading.
Mrs. Belsadys Donovan, one of our outstanding retired principals and teacher has done a spectacular job in this respect and I take this time to publicly recognize and commend her. Ms Donovan, like a true teacher does, has gone above and beyond the call of duty in ensuring that our students in this programme improve their literacy skills thereby increasing their chances in succeeding in life. Needless to say, that we will continue to utilize more persons in this respect. We must continue to reach our students where they are and work with them to bring them up to the level where they should be. After all, that is what true educators do. ~~Adz:Right~~
Within the next few weeks this initiative to improve the reading skills of some of our weak students in reading will be expanded commencing with the Bregado Flax Primary Division on Virgin Gorda, with the other public primary schools to follow in a phased manner. In addition, we have recently received approval from UNESCO to fund a Literacy Intervention Programme in the Primary Schools under the UNESCO Participation Programme. This project will be coordinated by the BVI National Commission for UNESCO and the Department of Education. It will be facilitated by a team of competent retired teachers in the area of reading. We must continue to empower our students, one student at a time.
At the beginning of the school year we will have a national reading pre-test for all public primary schools. In addition, the Government is in the process of implementing a new policy for the school year 2008/2009, commencing with the public primary schools where reading time for all classes will be done every day for at least one hour per day.
The UNESCO Literacy Project will work hand in glove with this initiative. This will allow us to continuously move our children’s reading and literacy skills from good to great. Before the end of the up-coming school year, a post test will be administered to all students of our public primary schools where the progress of this initiative by student, class, school, among others, will be recorded, assessed and interpreted. This initiative along with others will be recorded and assessed by the education officers as well as the new statistical unit that is coming on stream during the course of the 2008/2009 school year. Our education system must ensure that our decisions are based on accurate statistical data and not on random interpretations as has been the custom for the most part in the past.
During the 2007/2008 school year, a new academic reward initiative for all public primary school students from classes 1 to 5 also known as grades 2 to 6 was introduced. The top three students of each of those mentioned grades received a certificate and a geography tour to different parts of our Virgin Islands. Needless to say that this and other initiatives of this nature will continue in the new 2008/2009 school year. In addition on September 14th, 2008, a ceremony recognizing all the above mentioned students who maintained their academic performance by being in the top 3 in their respective class during the 2007/2008 school year will be held under the tent at HLSCC at 3pm. We must continue to encourage our students to strive to perform at high standards at all times and reward them when they do.
Our teachers have to be commended for the stellar job they continue to do every school year with the 2007/2008 school year being no exception. During the recently completed school year, on going teacher training was done so that our teachers can remain on the cutting edge of the education spectrum and this will continue for the up-coming 2008/2009 school year. The better trained our teachers are the better quality instructions our students will receive. The better the quality of instruction our students receive, the more they will excel and take their rightful place in society.
Consequently, in the next few weeks we will be launching with the University of the West Indies via HLSCC, a teacher’s bachelors programme commencing with a cohort of at least twenty public primary school teachers who through a similar previous programme received their associate degree. This cohort of teachers will be for two years. We have projected that within the next ten years or by the end of the fifth cohort of teachers, we should have all our public primary school teachers with at least a bachelor’s degree and this would put us at the top of the list of countries in the Caribbean that can boast of this accomplishment. This initiative will cost Government well over two million dollars for each cohort of teachers which includes their replacements and relative compensation, but we can never spend or give our teachers enough to compensate them for the time and dedication they display daily in the nurturing of this country’s future: OUR CHILDREN.
This initiative of training our teachers allows them to become empowered. In return, the teachers will empower our students. In return this initiative along with the continuous “on the job” teacher training that will be done this up-coming school year and beyond will empower our country; thereby, not only would we be moving our education system from good to great but we would also be moving our country from good to great.
Our teachers need our support as they continue to nurture and prepare our country and the wider world’s future in their class rooms. The more equipped in terms of supply our teachers have, the more they can effectively and efficiently enhance their instructional time.
It is in this vein that during the 2007/2008 school year the “Adopt-A-School” committee was established. This allowed the private and public sector to form a meaningful partnership that has allowed a more formal and vigorous approach in the adopting of each public primary and secondary school by at least a minimum of two companies. At present this initiative has raised approximately $20,000 annually per public primary school that will assist greatly in the purchasing of needed school supplies, cultural preservation and enhancement, just to name a few. Within the next few weeks the official grand launching of the programme which includes each school being formally introduced to their sponsors will take place. This shows what is possible when the private sector and Government work together to accomplish the same goal. This indeed will be a step in the right direction of our education journey.
Our education system is making strides to ensure that there is parity among the same grade level/classes across the board in our public primary schools. As a result, the OECS curriculum will be followed by all grades of all public primary school this up-coming school year until the introduction of our new National curriculum in a phased manner, commencing within one year’s time. To further ensure parity across the board, teachers teaching the same grade level will meet once a month for training as well as to learn from and share with their peers with the view of bringing accountability to fruition across the same grade levels.
As parents or even guardians we must monitor our students’ academic performance periodically. To assist with this, we will be introducing mandatory mid-term reporting in ALL public schools this up-coming 2008/2009 school year. We must strike a balance with our students and their parents. In the past, too many times when some of our parents/guardians checked in the middle of the term on their child’s academic progress, they are told that their child is doing great but yet at the end of the academic term the child fails the subject.
In an effort to bring more accountability, transparency and closure in this respect, this 2008/2009 school year, schools will be encouraged to produce mid-term reports of each child in each public school. This initiative will also allow for our schools to plan for the academic year thoroughly making adjustments when and where necessary. In addition, this initiative will also allow for the planning of an entire programme for each particular course. ~~Adz:Right~~
In moving our education system from good to great, one of the main objectives is to shift our secondary school system to the credit per course format. This will be done in a process known as the “Accreditation Process” which commenced last school year by a consultant, our very own, Dr. Charles Wheatley. This initiative will continue for at least the next seven years, but is crucial in shifting our educational system from purely academically based to one of technical/vocational, among others.
While we are on our education journey of moving our education system from good to great, we must have long-range goals to keep us from being frustrated by short-range failures. This process will also assist us tremendously in removing the negative connotation attached to technical/vocational areas of study. This will be done through:
1) Proper assessment in the placing of students in this area;
2) Public education in that weak students do - not do technical/vocational
subjects but it is there aptitude to excel in this area.
As a society we must come to grips with the fact that not all students can be doctors, lawyers, engineers, but they can excel also in areas such as plumbing, electrical work, air conditioning installation, maintenance and repairs, just to name a few. However, we must ensure that our education system is more apt in accommodating those students who desire to excel in the named technical/vocational areas, among others.
Our society must come to grips with the fact that we must now teach our children in our schools what used to be taught at home because some of them are not receiving the basic life lessons at home any more, namely; ethics, conflict resolution and manners, just to name a few. As a result in a phased manner this school year we will be implementing “Life Management” courses to all forms in all secondary schools. We cannot be afraid to tackle new problems with new techniques and as a result, we must curb some of our students’ negative behaviour.
Doing nothing is not an option, and doing the same thing over and over and expecting new results is a failed experiment. We must move forward now and always bear in mind that if every possible obstacle must first be overcome, nothing will ever get done. We must keep the main thing the main thing in our education system, and the main thing in our education system is our students.
In addition, during the up-coming 2008/2009 school year, we will be introducing a TV Home work programme to help students with better understanding the different concepts being taught in school during the up-coming school year.
The free lunch programme consultancy will commence during this up-coming school year with a pilot run to test how this programme can be implemented. In an effort to curb the increasing negative behaviour of our youth, in the not too distance future, in conjunction with the Police, we will be launching a Cadet Corp programme aimed at disciplining and helping students to enhance their sense of purpose in life and to this community.
Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done. During the 2007/2008 school year, we were fortunate enough to create a golden opportunity to assist our parents of students in our secondary public school with the option of participating in our school text book loan programme. This allowed parents/guardians who so desired regardless of the reason, to sign an agreement allowing them to have free access to all their child’s required text books with one of the main stipulation being that the books must be returned to the respective school in good condition before the next school year commences. Failure to ensure this and other requirements not being met would result in a fee to be paid.
Although participation in this initiative is not compulsory, we have seen that almost 50% of our secondary public school population has enrolled in this programme. Needless to say, this initiative will continue in the up-coming 2008/2009 school year and beyond. In a phased manner this initiative in the not too distant future will be extended to the public primary schools.
No one can argue that in comparison to the life history of other countries such as America, among others, our country is a relatively young country. However, our rich education history and legacy which we have built over the years, in my humble opinion, is second to none and must be documented. As such, during the 2007/2008 school year we engaged the services of one of our own local scholars and historian Dr. Quincy Lettsome to document the history of our education in the form of a book. This project is progressing extremely well and updates on this project will be given during the course of this new 2008/2009 school year. Knowing where we came from and how we got to this point in our education system is an essential ingredient in helping us on our current education journey in many respects.
Most of our physical school structures are in dire need of major repairs and in some cases modern structures are needed. This is a gigantic task so to speak, but we are tackling this concern just like we are addressing every issue in education: “ONE STEP AT A TIME”.
During this summer break we have and continue to ensure major repairs are being done to our public schools. Works such as the air conditioning of specified rooms such as the computer room, among others at the Claudia Creque Educational Centre, Bregado Flax Educational Centre, Robinson O’Neal Primary Schools are in the process of being commissioned. A new science lab trailer is being retrofitted for the Claudia Creque Educational Centre among other things; Improvements to the Bregado Flax Educational Centre science lab is also in the process of being commissioned.
Other major repairs are currently on the way at Leonora Delville Primary School, Isabella Morris Primary School, Francis Lettsome Primary schools with all the other public schools to follow in a phased manner. The new wing of the new Francis Lettsome Primary school will soon be in the newspapers for re-tendering. Other additions to other schools are being designed. Currently we have doubled our efforts in finalizing negotiations for a new site to house the Bregado Flax Educational Centre Primary Division. These are just a few of the work being done by this Government to ensure that we move in a systematical phased approach in ensuring that our school environment in terms of physical structures also move from good to great thereby enhancing the teaching and learning processes.
As Minister of Education, I have visited all our schools both private and public and it is clear that our students are intelligent, eager to learn and they possess an inner desire to be successful. Our students have great untapped reserves of potential within them. As Minister of Education, education officials, teachers, parents, community and the entire country our job is to release them. Our education system continues to allow for this to happen even during the 2007/2008 school year through many annual programmes and initiatives such as the Science Fair, Spelling “B”, Music Extravaganza, Culture Week, Education Week, debates, drama, concerts, sports, just to name a few. All of which will continue to be an integral part of the new 2008/2009 school year and beyond with new initiatives to be introduced during this up-coming school year.
At this time I must thank the Premier, my colleagues, my hard working staff, principals and their supporting staff, teachers, parents and the entire community for making the school year 2007/2008 a resounding success. I ask us to not become weary in well doing. Our job will be made easier and more enjoyable once we respect and help each other in our education journey of moving our education system from good to great; thereby ensuring this country’s future - our children, are guided and educated in a manner that will make us all proud. I encourage our teachers to always keep the well being of our students first and foremost in their minds so that our children can achieve and enjoy while achieving, resulting in them taking their rightful place in society.
In closing, I thank the Great God of the Universe for allowing me through the Premier and his confidence in me as a result of the confidence the people of this territory, especially my people of the first electoral district, in appointing me Minister of Education & Culture. I am humbled and with great humility I say thank you. By no means do I take this task and confidence shown in me lightly. Again I say thanks for everyone’s support, prayers, words of encouragement and even constructive criticism, because no-one man is always right: nor, no-one man has all the answers. However, although we are separate as fingers let us always be one as a hand while on our journey this 2008/2009 school year, as we move forward in unison while working towards “MOVING OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM FROM GOOD TO GREAT”.
Thank you and may the Great God of the Universe bless, protect and find favour with us on our education journey and as a country.
British Virgin Islands News