PM Roosevelt Skerrit has demanded for a reform of the school curriculum in the country, and also noted the need for career counselling for students sponsored to study abroad. He said the curriculum used in Dominica appears to be too CXC driven, and highlighted the need to modify how certain subjects such as Physical Education and Civics among others are run.
According to the prime minister, it does not make sense for Physical Education to be done from the textbooks without recourse to physical sports and activities outside of the classroom setting. He decried the situation where students sit for five hours in class without being given the opportunity to engage in group work and interactions.
He also noted that Civics must be brought back into the curriculum of study since many Dominican students know nothing about their country and their rights and responsibilities as citizens.
“I have been talking in the public domain for years about civics,” he said. “Many students do not know their rights and their responsibilities as citizens; they do not know anything about nationhood. Something that is so important as knowing what a citizen is and nationhood and the basic and fundamental rights…what is taking us so long to get this going?”
PM Skerrit also noted the need for students to be counselled before they choose courses of study outside of the country. He said students must be guided into what subjects to choose at the primary and secondary school level, and those going for overseas study must be guided into studying courses that will be of utmost benefits to the country.
He said it is not helpful when up to 30 students travel abroad to study the same course, instead of diversifying into courses that are of urgent national priority to the development of the country. He said it is best to study courses for which there are immediate national needs so that graduates can be employed by the government when they return to the island.
“Students are pursuing courses that are not of national priority and we also have saturation in terms of the number of people who are studying [in the same areas]…” he stated. “So what we find, is that students come back with the degree; yes, but there were 10 of you on the plane with the same area of study. And how many of you can the economy absorb at any one time?”
Furthermore, the Minister for Education, Octavia Alfred, has announced coming changes to the university scholarship programme. She said the Ministry of Education is going to prioritize the tracing of students in foreign universities so that the government knows where its students are and what courses they are studying.
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