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Youths say politicians exploiting'dunce' electors
Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
As the general election campaigning heightens, young Jamaicans are accusing some politicians of skirting the real issues because they know significant sections of the electorate are uneducated.
Speaking at a recent Gleaner Editors' Forum, several student leaders argued that much of the general electorate, especially youths, are not properly schooled and are, therefore, not capable of voting on issues - a situation which continues to foil the political process. The youths believe ignorance of the issues is so rife, they are opposing proposals to lower the age of voting from 18 to 16.
Religiously entrenched
"The Jamaican people on a whole, when it comes to politics, it is not a debate of policy and issues," argues Leon Ferguson, a Northern Caribbean University (NCU) psychology major. "We have religiously entrenched positions that refuse, like demons, to be exorcised, and our politicians have identified that and play on our generally (low level) of understanding. Many Jamaicans aren't really able to rationalise the whole thing," he continues.
The participants at the forum, representing some of the nation's universities and secondary schools, identified education as one of the main issues that needed to be addressed by the major political parties. The students called for urgent and fundamental changes, including the reintroduction of civics in high schools, and the inclusion of skills training in the secondary-school curricula, to better prepare young people for the labour market.
Early childhood
University of Technology Students' Union president, Valdimir Wallace, argues that early-childhood education should be the main plank for change for whoever forms the next government. He charges that Government has not been following religiously the recommendations by the task force on early-childhood education, despite the weaknesses at this level being a contributing factor to underperformance at the primary and secondary levels.
"If you want to create a firm base and we are not pressing changes to the early-childhood educational system], then what are we pressing towards?" comments Wallace.
"You have over 70 [per cent] graduating without one subject and then we have these grand graduations. It's kind of like you are giving them false hope to go out there," he continues.
Ferguson believes the current educational system is not equipping students with practical and analytical skills to face the current working environment.
Youths are not qualified
The vice-president of the National Secondary Students' Council (NSSC), Roshane Miller, supports this view. He adds that there are in fact, jobs, contrary to what some polls have indicated, but youths are not qualified for them. "The Government is doing a lot in terms of developing human resources, but I don't believe they (youths) are doing enough," says Miller.
Training should be fast-tracked by introducing skills training to the secondary-school curricula, president-elect of the NSSC, Kemesha Kelly suggests. She believes teaching strategies and certain classroom stigmas and cultures need to be changed to complement this training and boost student performance.
Kelly is proposing that teachers be paired with students based on the teacher's teaching methodology and the students' receptiveness to the method of teaching. She also wants more value to be placed on technical subjects.
"Persons who do food and nutrition, clothing and textile, they are seen, as the dunces, and that is an unfortunate thing."
Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
As the general election campaigning heightens, young Jamaicans are accusing some politicians of skirting the real issues because they know significant sections of the electorate are uneducated.
Speaking at a recent Gleaner Editors' Forum, several student leaders argued that much of the general electorate, especially youths, are not properly schooled and are, therefore, not capable of voting on issues - a situation which continues to foil the political process. The youths believe ignorance of the issues is so rife, they are opposing proposals to lower the age of voting from 18 to 16.
Religiously entrenched
"The Jamaican people on a whole, when it comes to politics, it is not a debate of policy and issues," argues Leon Ferguson, a Northern Caribbean University (NCU) psychology major. "We have religiously entrenched positions that refuse, like demons, to be exorcised, and our politicians have identified that and play on our generally (low level) of understanding. Many Jamaicans aren't really able to rationalise the whole thing," he continues.
The participants at the forum, representing some of the nation's universities and secondary schools, identified education as one of the main issues that needed to be addressed by the major political parties. The students called for urgent and fundamental changes, including the reintroduction of civics in high schools, and the inclusion of skills training in the secondary-school curricula, to better prepare young people for the labour market.
Early childhood
University of Technology Students' Union president, Valdimir Wallace, argues that early-childhood education should be the main plank for change for whoever forms the next government. He charges that Government has not been following religiously the recommendations by the task force on early-childhood education, despite the weaknesses at this level being a contributing factor to underperformance at the primary and secondary levels.
"If you want to create a firm base and we are not pressing changes to the early-childhood educational system], then what are we pressing towards?" comments Wallace.
"You have over 70 [per cent] graduating without one subject and then we have these grand graduations. It's kind of like you are giving them false hope to go out there," he continues.
Ferguson believes the current educational system is not equipping students with practical and analytical skills to face the current working environment.
Youths are not qualified
The vice-president of the National Secondary Students' Council (NSSC), Roshane Miller, supports this view. He adds that there are in fact, jobs, contrary to what some polls have indicated, but youths are not qualified for them. "The Government is doing a lot in terms of developing human resources, but I don't believe they (youths) are doing enough," says Miller.
Training should be fast-tracked by introducing skills training to the secondary-school curricula, president-elect of the NSSC, Kemesha Kelly suggests. She believes teaching strategies and certain classroom stigmas and cultures need to be changed to complement this training and boost student performance.
Kelly is proposing that teachers be paired with students based on the teacher's teaching methodology and the students' receptiveness to the method of teaching. She also wants more value to be placed on technical subjects.
"Persons who do food and nutrition, clothing and textile, they are seen, as the dunces, and that is an unfortunate thing."
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