…in high school
It’s that time of the year again: our front pages are chock full of pictures of our high flyers from 5th and Sixth Forms of our secondary schools – generally kids from 16 to 18. And they deserve the accolades – imagine the effort to get 19 Grade Ones at CSEC or 6 Grade Ones at CAPE. Amazing!
But your Eyewitness has to also point out to the rest of us a couple of implications from our celebrations. That if 50 years after Independence we’re still stuck at High School achievements doesn’t say much for our educational system, does it? This attention to High School grades came about when High Schools were the best we could aim for – they were so few of them.
A decade after the abolition of slavery, the government launched Queen’s College to give the scions of the upper class – generally kids of officialdom and the local professional (mostly Coloured) class, a British High School education. Only from that perch some could go on to University in Britain. Burnham was the top performer in 1942 at A-Levels (our CAPE today) and won a scholarship to London University to study for Law as a “Guyana Scholar”.
Because he was “African” and not Coloured or White, his feat generated a tremendous wave of pride among ordinary Africans – more than a hundred years after “Emancipation”. And gave him the platform he was to ride to success in politics. Your Eyewitness is concerned that a further 70-odd years down the road from Mr Burnham’s achievement, we’re still stuck at the same spot. Maybe even retrogressive, since success at “O” Levels, the equivalent to CSEC, didn’t earn anyone any national kudos then.
Your humble Eyewitness thinks we have to raise our sights, don’t you agree, dear readers? And so we arrive at our tertiary educational institution we created to make us independent – the University of Guyana. How come we don’t hear about their graduates? It was established in 1963 – before independence. So where is it 53 years later? All we hear about is how decrepit and rundown it is – and that’s just the physical infrastructure! We also hear that 85 per cent of its graduates move on to greener pastures in the “developed” world.
We can only retain them if we make our local pastures a bit greener for University Graduates. Well, maybe better days are around the corner – the oil corner that’ll need all kinds of trained personnel with University training.
We just have to make sure the revenues that’ll start flowing five years from now doesn’t flow into some politicians’ pockets!
…in oil and water
Some folks have their undies all in a knot because Van West Charles, head of GWI, just got a licence to import and export oil from Guyana. Why the fuss? They don’t believe oil and water can mix??!! Well just try an emulsifier and they’ll mix just fine, thank you. In this specific case money was obviously used as the emulsifying agent!
A couple of years ago, a Chinese company had its comparable license yanked and ex-PM Sam Hinds had to plead their case in the press. To no effect of course – all sorts of prerequisites weren’t in place – storage tanks, etc etc. Now, never mind Van West doesn’t even have the experience much less the equipment. He’s Guyanese, nuh?
That he’s also Burnham’s son-in-law has nothing to do with it. And his position as head of GWI has no relevance. Any Guyanese could’ve applied – and received the license even though there’s no bond.
But he can always rent one from Larry Singh, nuh?
…in beauty
Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Miss Universe Jamaica was just stripped – of her crown, that is. Seems she was naive enough to believe she’d receive all the prizes the promoters advertised and sued when she was stiffed.
What’d they teach them in Jamaican schools?
