The Minister of Education has suggested that the Government’s thinking of doing away with the NGSA as the criterion for being admitted into our high schools. This move has been long promised, and is even longer overdue. Your Eyewitness remembers the terror that gripped him as a callow, knocked-kneed, 11-year-old when he had to write the Common Entrance back in the day!! He’s since nursed a tremendous empathy for cows being led to the slaughter, and fully understands their heart-rending lowing of terror!!
But how come this is only now being floated as a suggestion?? When the NGSA was introduced back around 2003, it replaced the “Common Entrance” exam, so named for us “commoners”, of course, to duke it out mentally among ourselves for the privilege of getting to rub shoulders with – and be snubbed by – the scions of the upper crust in a few “elite” schools in Georgetown!! The little darlings of the said upper crust didn’t have to write no qualifying exams; by definition and birth, they were so much smarter than us native picaninnies!!!
At the time, there were two main reasons offered to do away with the invidious comparisons the Common Entrance inevitably created, since it served to “separate the wheat from the chaff”. The “lower” 14,500 chaff, who didn’t make the “town schools” with the “top” 500 wheat, would have stamped on their foreheads all their lives the label of being “failures”!! So, the National Grade Six ASSESSMENT – as its name explicitly declares – was gonna be an “assessment”; rather, the last of three assessments, as to how the individual was doing in primary school. The assessments – starting in Grade II and then Grade IV and Grade VI – would simply be used by teachers at the next grade level to know what individualised attention the kids needed!!
Sounded wonderful!! Gone would be the tension of having one’s entire future decided at the age of 11!! In 2003 – TWENTY-TWO YEARS AGO!! – The same Minister of Education declared that all the schools across the country would be given the same facilities, similarly- trained teachers, same funding, etc, so that kids would all be sent to schools in their respective communities. No more colonial elitism!!
Well, maybe we didn’t have the money to make all those promises become reality, but there are no excuses right now!! We got the money and we have the motivation; and we need our people educated to fully participate in, and run, this new economy!!
There’s no need for the Ministry to “float” phasing out the NGSA. What we need is a plan with a firm timeline by which we can gauge our progress towards equal education for all our children!!
Free at last! Free at last!!
…for diplomatic relations
Your Eyewitness notes that a new Chinese Ambassador has been accredited – just a week after their charge d’affaires had created a diplomatic sh*tstorm between our two countries. He undiplomatically adopted the Venezuelan position on their border controversy; to wit, that it be resolved through face-to-face negotiations, rather than through the auspices of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where we’ve lodged it through the operation of the Geneva Agreement signed by Venezuela!!
Our Government has rightfully identified the anomaly, and your Eyewitness believes the new ambassador should be asked directly if the charge d’affaires had represented the OFFICIAL position of the Government of China. Now, there’s nothing wrong if that is the situation – even though we would wish it were otherwise!! Nations would act in accordance with how they define THEIR national interests – as would we – but still maintain diplomatic relations. For example, China’s declared it has an “all weather” relationship with Venezuela!!
It’s better all-around if we all know exactly where we stand.
…in settling issues
Tensions are heating up between nuclear powers India and Pakistan, in the wake of a terrorist attack in Kashmir that took 28 Indian lives. Two of the terrorists have been identified as Pakistani citizens from a Pakistan-based group.
