Heather RobinsonTHERE HAS always been a lot of concern and sometimes even worry about the literacy levels among the Jamaican people, but moreso among our children. Recent data reveal that the percentage of children who are "not at risk" stands at 57.8 per cent. This information is from the Grade Four Literacy Test (2004). 28.6 per cent are classified as 'uncertain', and 13.5 per cent are 'at risk'.
Each year when these results are published, many persons offer solutions that would require personal commitment and involvement. A Grade 4 student is a child who will sit the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) within the next 18-24 months. At the end of Grade 6 these children enter the secondary school system and are expected to perform at the Grade 7 or first form level.
Last week, I spoke with one of my primary school friends who told me the experience of our schoolmate who teaches Grade 7 in a rural high school. This teacher of many years was very distressed with some of her students who could not read 'THIS IS A BOY' and 'THIS IS A GIRL'.
Her frustration peaked to the point where she asked the class to write her a story instead of pursuing the reading exercise. This, she hoped, would be less tedious. As she paced the classroom anxiously awaiting the stories that would be written, one child raised his hand to ask a question. "Miss, how do you spell suppon?" the child asked. "Suppon?" the teacher asked, "What word is that?" The insistent child repeated the question, until the now completely frustrated teacher asked the child to use the word 'suppon' in a sentence. The student responded, "One suppon a time."
IN DEEP TROUBLE
It is becoming totally clear that children need to be taught to speak first before they are asked to read and write. If a Grade 7 student does not know that the word 'ONCE' is one word, and the word 'UPON' is another, we really are in deep trouble.
Some persons believe that the Jamaican patois or dialect should be considered a second language. The majority of these persons have had the benefit of secondary and tertiary education conducted and written in the English Language. They have no communication problems when they go abroad or speak to someone from another English-speaking country. We need to get the "suppon" child to this level, and it can no longer be the responsibility of the primary school teacher who could take a little more pride in producing literate "not at risk" students but also the parents and all of us who are literate. Some schools have remedial reading and writing classes that have managed to help some children. But this is not happening at a quick enough pace.
NATIONAL PROGRAMME
We need to begin a national programme of 'each one, teach one'. The Private Sector Organi-sation of Jamaica (PSOJ) needs to initiate a programme that utilises workers to teach one child to read at the Grade 4 level each year. And since we all know that the problem exists in our secondary institutions, the programme could be replicated there as well.
During the early '70s of the Michael Manley administration, the national literacy programme, through the JAMAL Foundation, produced some of the best results. If the PSOJ is willing to take such an initiative to the Minister of Education, those children who are now classified as 'uncertain' and 'at risk' will be transformed into being 'not at risk'. And, if the PSOJ is unwilling, then those who wish to help on their own can find a 'suppon' child and begin the process. Being told thanks by someone who has benefited from the educational process is a rewarding experience.
Heather Robinson is a life underwriter and former Member of Parliament.
