Dear Editor,

I must applaud the Ministry of Education for seeking to implement a practical-oriented curriculum for our boys. This groundbreaking and dynamic approach to education is most relevant at a time when our boys have persisted as the prime academic laggards in our schools. Certainly, we need to make radical shifts in our education trajectory in order to change the status quo of underperformance among our male cohort. Our ministry's recent plan is therefore a critical step in our thrust forward.

Various researches that have been conducted locally and internationally have established that practical methodologies can indeed be effective in instructing our boys. However, we must realise that they also need to be empowered in order to make greater academic strides.

So many of our boys simply lack interest in learning, and they lack the drive to surmount the existing challenges to succeed. We therefore need to encourage and reward their work by providing them with more incentives, such as scholarships and travel opportunities, as well as internship positions in diverse work areas in which they have an avid interest.

We also need to organise more investments in mentorship programmes that will involve some of our most positive and influential males who will help to empower and advise our youth.

Additionally, we need to provide mentorship and training for those parents who are struggling with raising their boys. Many of our boys are from single-parent families, where their fathers are absent and their mothers are frustrated with the responsibilities of parenthood. Consequently, we need to help our mothers and fathers alike to sharpen their parenting skills. This will help them to be more tactful in dealing with their sons, particularly during the troublesome adolescent period.

Our boys need us, and we need our boys, so let us work concertedly as a nation to rescue them through education.

Shawna Kay Williams

The Mico University College

shawna201@gmail.com