Dear Editor,

The pass rate for mathematics has been on the decline over the past few years. Its percentage stands in the 30s, and seems not to be getting better soon as it is not a frequently labelled ‘favourite subject’ among adults, let alone children.

Mathematics, considerably the universal language, is becoming a barrier to progress for thousands of young minds. The subject has become a source of anxiety rather than empowerment that fosters logical thinking and builds the reasoning abilities of its students.

As a former student of maths, having graduated from The University of the West Indies with a degree in mathematics of finance, and a maths teacher since 2016, I believe that the nation is suffering from a preconceived notion that maths is difficult, and the educators remaining on the island are battling this amongst other issues. I have met many students who think they don’t know but don’t know that they do know!

My social media pages will, in the coming weeks, be dedicated to getting students as ready as they can be for the upcoming examination season. Students are able to submit questions they are struggling with, free of cost, to a
WhatsApp number and the solutions along with guidelines will be posted for the benefit of other students.

Long term, the platform is geared towards offering help to students in the subject area to improve their relationship with the subject so high school graduates can move on to higher learning in the subject area, apply for basic jobs with mathematics and English requirements, or simply improve their logical thinking.

If the nation builds a better relationship with mathematics we will have more logical thinkers and less rash responders.

In a world where too many problems go unanswered, mathematics has many answers.

Olephia Robinson

Olephiar72@gmail.com