KINGSTON, Jamaica — Former Deputy Head Girl at the Clarendon-based Edwin Allen High School, Shanika Crosdale, is urging students to use social media for their growth and development.

Shanika, who is now in sixth form, tells JIS News in an interview that “teachers can do so much for you (students). You have to help yourselves, and there are a lot of good social media platforms”.

The budding lawyer and journalist says students should not just go out and post TikTok videos with dances all day long. “There are tutors on TikTok. Use social media to benefit you when it comes to your education,” she encourages.

Shanika points out that there are a lot of past papers online.

“If one tutor is not working out for you, you can try another one. Make sure that you focus on your education. Make sure you take the opportunity you have with social media to do your research and go for past papers. Anything you didn’t fully grasp in class, you can watch it online,” she says.

The very articulate and self-assured student adds that while she understands the need to be entertained as teenagers, “our education is first and foremost”.

Shanika says that the investments made by parents in their children must be safeguarded, and wasteful use of social media can be detrimental to a secured future.

“You do not know the struggles your parents are facing most times to send you to school. Make sure you make your parents proud. Make sure you make yourself proud. If you are just reposting things from TikTok and you graduate or you leave school and you do not have any subjects to show, are you proud of yourself? Will your parents be proud of you to say they spent so much money to send you to school, and they do not have anything to show for it? It would not be a good thing,” the student argues.

Noting that social media helped her to master her subjects, Shanika, who sat seven CSEC subjects and was successful in all of them, says while there can be a little focus on entertainment, it is important that students put enough time into their education.

“While you are going to spend a little time on entertainment, that is okay. Nothing is wrong with that, but make sure you spend time on your education – every subject, mathematics, English, and others,” she says.

“There are tutors for every single subject you can think of. You can play games. Some people learn from games. Everybody learns differently. Utilise those platforms. I utilised them, and they really helped. They helped me stay more focused on understanding things better. I do go on TikTok. I do watch TikTok. I don’t make it take up all my time where I won’t have time to focus on my education. I make sure I balance my time,” she shares with JIS News.

The Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information provides online resources for high-school students through its website, moey.gov.jm and the e-Resources app. These resources include the National Standard Curriculum (NSC), online lessons, lesson plans, practice questions, and other general learning materials for students, teachers, and parents.

Another sixth-form student at Edwin Allen High, Rickoy Thomas, who passed  eight subjects at CSEC,  says social media can stand in the way of educational pursuits and students need to delete them occasionally.

“If you cannot control yourself and your device, take away all the apps on your device that are distracting you,” he urges.

“You have YouTube now, and you have tutors for every subject. So nowadays, it’s very hard to fail a CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) subject. You have the tutors on YouTube, and they have their apps for you to get engaged,” he points out.

The education ministry also empowers students via Google Play for digital reading materials, where students can find approved educational resources, learning platforms, and digital reading materials through approved educational resource lists and the dedicated Library on BookFusion.

–         JIS