… Highlights needed reforms in education system The Commonwealth Students Association has found its new Chairman for its Steering Committee in University of Guyana Student Society President,Mauricio Isla Jersey, Joshua Griffith.CSA Steering Committee Chairman, Joshua Griffith flanked by Guyana’s Commonwealth Representative Rosemary Ramitt (left) and Tricia Teekah (right)This comes on the heels of the 19th Commonwealth Education Ministers’ Meeting, recently held in the Bahamas.Griffith’s election was part of the meeting of the Youth Affairs Division, which addressed issues surrounding education policies both regionally and internationally.During a recent interview with the newly elected Chairman and Commonwealth Regional Representative, Tricia Teekah, the two related the issues highlighted at the multinational conference.Some of the main points that came out of the meeting,San Francisco Giants Deion Sanders Jersey, according to Teekah, were the maintenance of teaching standards among the teachers in the region. The youth portion of the conference recommended the reintroduction of the remigrant teachers training programme.“We viewed this as critical to accessing and providing quality education,” said Teekah.Moreover the group highlighted issues such as mental health,Serge Savard Canadiens Jersey, physical disability and “male marginalisation” as areas which needed to be addressed on a systemic level.On the topic of male marginalisation, Teekah said that such a problem needs to be addressed,Michael Wacha Cardinals Jersey, specifically in the Caribbean. According to the representative, male marginalisation has to do with the dropout rate of male students in the region, which she regarded as being very high.However, while male marginalisation is noticeably high, it was discovered that it contributed to the issue of reintegrating school dropouts into the education system. Teekah contended that educational reintegration is an issue that affects students of both genders,Baltimore Orioles Jim Palmer Jersey, especially female students who had to discontinue their studies due to pregnancy.Factors which would more directly help to resolve these issues,Dalton Pompey Blue Jays Jersey, Teekah said,Merril Hoge Steelers Jersey UK, would be institutional reform, access to educational materials, classroom appropriation and revising the curriculum.Revising the curriculum would include re-evaluating how standardised tests are administered to students, given that the educational capability of each student varies. This would require that the format of the current curriculum be more “student friendly” instead of academically based on standardised tests.“This would be catering for every student in the school system to ensure that no one is left out or left behind,” said Teekah.She added that this approach would directly involve those who are “not academically inclined”, while adopting a holistic education technique.Commenting on the curriculum revision,Pedro Rodriguez Barcelona Jersey, CSA Chairman added that such reform is meant to target the individual needs of every student from the primary to the tertiary level.“This calls for students to be respected as individuals with specific needs and to consider that in curriculum reform.In moving away from standardised tests it is more of an effort to understand each individual student’s value and working towards bringing out the best in them,” said Griffith.