No Child Should Be Left Behind..? Seriously Jamaica?

Lois Grant

This is what Jamaica's Ministry of Education claims... Every child must learn and no child should be left behind. But the practice of what is prevailing in some schools belies this claim. So says one of my elderly retired educators who called to tell me the story of what has happened at a prominent rural school in Jamaica.

She asked..How can every child learn under some of these oppressive and backward  Principals, who want to show their power?

Since the return of face to face teaching, she got calls from parents complaining that their children were turned back from a school in rural Jamaica by the principal for two of what they consider inconsiderate and frivolous reasons in this pandemic stressful time. They felt it was an unnecessary exhibit of power by the principal who they suggested should be the one getting some cane-ing to put some common sense in his head.

Case #1: One child while in the process of ironing her blouse for school, experienced an electricity outage. But so excited she was to be going back to classes, she insisted on wearing her half ironed blouse to school. However, when she turned up, the principal who was standing at the gate, ordered her to return home to get her uniform properly pressed. She was not even given a chance to explain that it was the JPS (Jamaica's Public Shame) that had caused her embarrassing moment. 

"What kind of principal is this who in these times is so caught up with appearances over the need to educate a child?", my elderly friend asked. "Where is his conscience, fully well knowing that the unreliable services of the JPS prevail not only in the corporate area but more so in rural Jamaica and people no longer have the coal irons to rescue them."

Case 2:  Same principal, same school. Several other students were turned back for being late. The parent lamented that transportation was the problem as the remote area has lost some of the unregistered robot taxis and with the reopening of school, things have just not been normalized. 

The parent asked "What is the principal doing at the gate turning back children in this first week of resettling back to what may never be normalcy again? Is it that he has nothing else to do? Why doesn't he go teach a class.?".the complaining parent queried of my elderly friend.. 

They must STOP IT. Stop it at once...lamented my elderly retired educator as she shared the story. It is heartbreaking to hear that children who have been away for almost 2 years are unable many of them to participate in online classes because they have no wifi in their communities or parents just are not up to speed with the technology. Now they are now being turned back from school because of these reasons. 

The  2 years loss of education because of Covid is going to impact on our society in a way we cannot even imagine, she lamented. We have felt the fall out of the system before with the half-day schoolers..the ones who went to the junior secondary schools. Now, this? 

Teachers are themselves under stress with the online classes, not to mention the unavailability of tablets, wifi and data for thousands of children, especially those in rural Jamaica.

Lois with a group of children

"Education is not just about getting letters behind your name. It's about applying the knowledge that you have gained and using common sense, discretion and logic" my retired educator concluded. 

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Editors Note:

Ms Lois Grant- JP, MA, BA.(Hons) Dip Mass Comm, Cert. Broadcast Journalism BBC-London. Lois Grant's involvement in the communications and creative industry began in the newsroom at the now-defunct  Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) . She then went on to head the  Public Relations unit, at the now-defunct Grimax Advertising. From there, Grant went into partnership with the creation of the  Promotions/Production agency.. Innercity  Promotions.  Innercity was responsible for the creation of the live dance hall series of concerts at the Harbour View and New Kingston Drive-in cinemas... the firsts in the history of entertainment in Jamaica. At the start of the '90s Grant formed her own agency under the banner, Corporate Image Communications and Productions. She stood out as a trailblazer in developing several innovative events as well as programmes for corporate brands such as  Tastee Limited,  Jamaica National Building Society, City of Kingston Cooperative Credit Union, and various government agencies. Looking back Grant notes that she has played her role in changing the political landscape of three Caribbean islands, including Jamaica. Her last assignment before taking early retirement, saw her as the Director of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister of Jamaica from 2007-early 2013.