I cannot understand why Mr Tim Gopeesingh is in such a hurry to change the present format of the SEA exam. Why does he want to expand SEA assessment when it is already over-burdened?Children in SEA classes and even lower classes are deprived of normal break and lunch periods in an effort by some teachers to finish the syllabus. I was under the impression that the reason for moving the exam from March to May was to ensure that the children were better prepared.
I totally disagree with subjecting them to be tested in more areas. Does the Minister believe that by increasing the work-load of these already stressed children he would see better results?This plan shows that no research was done by this Ministry. Sir, if you are sincerely interested in the welfare of these children then I urge you to interview the parents. Let them be the ones to give you an insight into the daily lives of their children.
Let them be the ones to tell you how many sleepless nights their kids have had trying to finish school-work. Let them be the ones to tell you about termly projects that are to be done in between the few moments of free time. Let them be the ones to tell you about having to coax a mentally, physically and emotionally tired kids to finish their home-work. Understand Sir, there are only so many hours in the day.
Has any thought been put into who would be teaching and marking Drama, Art and Sport? The majority of teachers do not have the know-how. What about the National Assessment at the end of every school term? How many more exams and stresses, must we put our children through?
I beg you Mr Gopeesingh to reconsider targeting this age-group of children. This is better suited to forms 1-3 students and they would already have specially trained teachers in Secondary Schools for this. I wonder if teachers would be willing to "sick-out" for this cause or is it only for money they would. I wonder what position TTUTA and the National PTA would be taking on this matter?
Elaine Peters