Dear Editor,

I was truly amazed by a letter to the editor titled ‘TVET in primary schools is a brilliant idea’ published in the Jamaica Observer on June 1.

It was a response to a statement made by the Minister of Education Fayval Williams that she will be introducing technical education in primary schools. The letter reads, “I think this is an excellent idea due to the fact that the current labour market is rapidly changing to meet global needs … so that the youngsters can be programmed or taught from early how to select and/or adapt their skills to suit these changing needs … it is critical that children at the primary level can be trained in their relevant disciplines from early.”

This is a kind of Pied Piper situation — a leader makes a statement and the follower praises. What is sad here is that neither party has conducted the simplest of research on the issue. It is like sharing a dream. It has to be a dream because this is not the attention the primary schools needs at this moment. Most of our primary schools are graduating students to secondary institutions who are illiterate and semi-literate at best. One would think that even if the intention is to begin to produce labourers for the workforce at an early age, it would be critical to ensure that those potential workers can read, write, and think critically and creatively, in terms of being able to become innovative citizens.

Political leaders must be very careful that they do not confuse their dreams with policymaking, resulting in nightmares. I am not against introducing career and work at the primary school, but at the conceptual level, in terms of the value of and respect for work, but to add to the existing primary curriculum this new area of TVET has no context in the development of primary students in Jamaica. Students are not just subjects waiting to be trained for work, and I am sure that there are other aspects of education which are critical to transforming primary education but are ignored.

In recent months, there was a newspaper report about the literacy crisis at Denham Town High School, most or all incoming students could not read at the seventh grade level, most reading at grades two and three. Most recently, the acting principal of a secondary school in St Thomas was forced to publicly reveal one of the biggest secrets in Jamaica — many students entering especially the upgraded high schools were so illiterate that some could not match sounds to letters of the alphabet.

I can understand the Government listening to a group preaching transformation of education to produce 21st-century workers. I have been hearing that call for the past two decades and we still cannot produce world-class workers. We have not achieved that goal because we have confused the destination for the journey. Teachers and principals are often fearful of advocacy because the system is authoritarian and the backlash can be dreadful.

I am also amazed that the media in this country has turned a blind eye to a matter that is right before their eyes. There have been a few articles and many letters to the editor on this matter, but no investigation. Parent-teacher associations, community groups, and interest groups must begin to speak out on this matter because education commissions are not designed to go to the root of the problem.

Louis E A Moyston

thearchives01@yahoo.com