Last night we told you that teachers are now being trained in the teaching of African and Indian studies for the program’s launch in primary schools next year. Proponents argue that teaching of this history is essential to endow young people with dignity and self-esteem. But with so many problems in just reading, writing and arithmetic, is it too much to ask - that's what Alfonso Noble tried to find out yesterday.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
The three day orientation of social studies lecturers will see these teachers become trainers for other teachers in the districts. What for? Well the much talked about African and Maya history project which Dr. Joseph Iyo says is at the final stages of implementation.
Dr. Joseph Iyo,
"We are actually going into the last stage of implementation at the upper level at 5 and 6. Lower and middle will be coming next year but for upper division the materials are ready, they are in press, the student handbooks should be ready by the weekend and then they can implement come first term."
And while the push is well underway to see the implementation of what seems to be a new addition to the existing primary school curriculum, Iyo says that in reality it is not new. All they'll be doing is enhancing the existing social studies programs in primary schools.
Dr. Joseph Iyo,
“What we have done is see how we can enhance the existing subjects in the Social Studies i.e. the African and Maya Civilizations to see how much they have been reflected. Remember in the past all they thought on Africa was slave trade and slavery in Belize. We know that Africa had over 4,000 to 5,000 years of history before Christ was born. That has not been given justice and we also known before 15th Century Africa had developed and done so many things before they were enslaved. What we have done is to correct the imbalance where it was treated as if Africa started when people were being caught and enslaved and through to the end of slavery."
But why the need for the augmenting of the social studies program? According to Iyo it's to ensure that students at the primary school level get the foundation necessary for them to become world citizens.
Dr. Joseph Iyo,
"What we are doing here is a social responsibility to educate people to be able to contribute to the world. Belizeans are not just for Belize. You know very well that over 200,000 people of Belizean descent live in the States and elsewhere. When you send them to go the States or England or wherever they have to be prepared. what are we doing is preparing them in a way that is holistic and that equips on how to meet other people and deal with other people and not be ignorant."
But lack of ignorance in areas of social studies is one thing another is the argument that while the intention may be good - it might be to the neglect of critical areas such as English and math - core subjects in which students have performed dismally in the PSE. Iyo agrees there’s something wrong, but neglecting these studies won’t fix it.
Dr. Joseph Iyo,
"There only so much the project can do. The project cannot deal with other inadequacies in the system. The project can only enhance. We are hoping this will have a multiplier effect. If it highlights the inadequacies in the system then we hope the people who are responsible for policy and implementation will put those things in place to make sure that they are not on par. We cannot address English, we cannot address the level of teacher or professional training all we can do is highlights or reveal weakness in the system."
But it's just not that simple, after all the educational system has been trying to fix it for quite some time now with only limited success. The only hope now is that when the time comes around for the PSE results in social studies, this training session will pay off by making the students’ performance better in at least one subject.
The 30 teachers in this initial program will train 300 in the wider education system. The program will be introduced with a full complement of textbooks and teaching aids such as video documentaries.