CXC Initiative May Halt School Violence

It has not been said so specifically, but there is the possibility that the new Secondary Education Programme to be introduced in Anguilla, and in other regional islands, by the Caribbean Examinations Council next year may be somewhat of an antidote for school violence.

The view has always been held in Anguilla, if not in some of the other islands, that children with less ability, and unable to cope with the demands of the education programme in the higher forms, are often the trouble-makers and rabble-rousers in the classroom. It is these students who would be better off in certain technical and skill-related learning environments than in the academic life of the school.

The prospect of attending the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School for up to five years and leaving without a National Certificate must be a worrying one for those students who do not possess the ability or capacity for the CXC and CAPE examination levels. The fact that the new Secondary Education Programme is sensitive to this dilemma, breathes a breath of fresh air and expectation into the school system for the less-talented students.

If the new system works well, it may be able to transform disruptive and violent children into well-disciplined and well-committed students, proud to earn at least a National Certificate that could satisfy some requirements of the job market and lead to their further advancement.

Indeed, the projected outcomes of the new secondary level programme speak for themselves. They include creating in the students a positive image of self, family, community, the region and the world; respect for others irrespective of age, class, creed, gender, ethnicity, physical abilities ands nationality; a dislike for violence in all its forms and commitment to settle disputes through arbitration and conciliation; and the capacity to understand that individual freedom is consonant with the acceptance of personal responsibility for one’s own actions.

As human attitudes, customs and other behavioural patterns change around us, and life itself takes on new challenges and dimensions of every description, so must our original concepts and approaches undergo a metamorphosis to meet the demands of the day. The new CXC Secondary Education Programnme may be a Godsend to our present education system to help meet the needs of the vast majority of our students.