BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – OVER the years, many nationals of St. Kitts and Nevis and other people throughout the Caribbean Diaspora have aired their views on the need to have Black History taught early in schools, in a way which highlights the positive contributions and accomplishments made by our black ancestors.
There are many black conscious people and others who believe that in the Caribbean region, where the majority is of African descent, academic history lessons should focus more on Africans and not so much on Europeans.
It is safe to say that African History taught in high schools focus more on the slavery aspect.
Former Governor of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Sir Probyn Inniss is in support of Black History being taught in school from the early childhood years through secondary education.
Sir Probyn shared his perspective during a recent interview when asked by this media house whether he believes the education system in St. Kitts-Nevis should be revamped in terms of introducing Black History in the pre and primary schools.
“I would agree with that entirely. Not just in pre-schools and primary schools and secondary schools, but we as a people have not only to know the history but we have to appropriate it…it is our history.”
Sir Probyn opined that Black History should be taught as a means of empowering black people about their ancestors, which would help in building self-esteem.
“So what I’m saying it’s not just to teach it as a subject, because I think in many instances this is what happens where somebody would do history at a high school level and it’s just a subject. You do it, you pass and you forget it.
“I’m saying you’re doing it to create some sense of awareness in your own mind as to who your ancestors were, where they were coming from, what they endured, what they suffered and what they’ve bequeathed to us, and that helps to give you as a person a higher sense of your own self-esteem. It isn’t just a subject, so I’m saying now…you have to find means of incorporating that history into your very being because. It is part of you!”
He went on to highlight that Black History in schools should be introduced not only for the programme of study or just for students to pass an examination, but as something to be proud of.
“I’m not just talking about introducing it into schools for the sake of curriculum and the sake of passing of this exam or that exam, I’m saying we need to get to the point where, ‘listen, this is something we live, this is something we believe in, this is something we are proud of and we are prepared as it were to show it to the whole world as UNESCO would have us do’.”
Information found on www.educationcaribbean.com about Caribbean History syllabus for Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) - Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) explains “that for the core, students should be aware of the salient facts and concepts of the following topics: The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, The Europeans, The Economic Revolution and the Coming of the Enslaved Africans, Slave Resistance, Emancipation and Apprenticeship Coming of the Chinese, Europeans (Maderians, Germans, French), Indians and Africans, The Establishment of the Peasantry to the End of the 19th Century, The United States’ Influence in the Caribbean, Popular Protests in the 1930s and Movements Towards Self-Government and Independence up to 1985”.
High school students start preparing for CXC from the Third Form.
