Philipsburg, St. Maarten – The 2015-2016 school year is just about to begin with our students reporting to classes today. After one month of vacation our students are all revered up to acquire some more knowledge as the saying goes only the prepared will inherit the future.
Recently, I had a conversation with a teacher and he stated that on an annual basis many students are not promoted; in some cases they don’t pass their final exams and often times they drop out of school after having repeated the same class more than once. My question to him was, what are the causes of some these students not being successful?
Is it because some of the students are not motivated? Is it because the parents don’t care what happens as they show no interest at all in the education of their children? Does it have anything to do with our educational system? Finally, is it government to blame for the failure of our students?
In my opinion it is a combination of those factors and many others not mentioned above. Nevertheless, as a young nation we have to continue to motivate and encourage our young people to study hard as they will have to lead this country sometime in the near future.
It is a known fact that the beginning of every year the schools encounter problem with the scheduling of classes and in some cases they fall short of certain books. After a couple of weeks all that is sorted out and then the classes begin.
Students hear on a yearly basis from their parents and teachers the importance of education. They tend to take it for granted for most of them believe that it is the duties of parents and teachers to tell them how important education is for their future. Last week Thursday we buried one of our fallen soldiers, the late officer Gamaly Kwasi Benjamin. Once again we heard from the politicians, the business community and others that we must do more for our young people because they are going astray and I agree. Let’s start now.
The OSPP is proposing to organize motivational speeches at all our schools after the first month that school has resumed. These motivational speeches are to be done by our community leaders, businesses and other professionals in our community. Let our students hear from somebody else other than their parents, teachers and religious leaders the importance of education. Let them understand that to be good at anything in life you must practice, practice and practice. In school be attentive in classes, do your homework and the rest will fall in place. Going to school can never be boring; it is what you make out of it. As a good friend of mine always says when you ask him how he is doing, he is practicing. Practicing to be better at what he is doing at that moment and what he will be doing in the near future.
We want to wish all our students, teachers and the parents a very successful school year 2015-2016. “St. Maarten needs each and every one of you to be successful in your studies, says Lenny Priest, as education is the key to the future.
