85% of Students avoid science subjects

Make science compulsory in high school, educators say

Luke Douglas

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

EIGHTY-FIVE per cent of Jamaican high school students are spurning critical science subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination level causing alarm bells to go off among educators.

This means that only 15 per cent of Jamaican high schools students take physics, chemistry or biology.

The worrying statistic is among the latest from the Overseas Examinations Commission and, according to math and science faculty at the Mico University College, is a figure which needs to be increased dramatically if the country is to achieve its development goals.

According to Head of the Department of Natural Sciences at Mico, Dr Albert Benjamin, "there is a misalignment between curricular and emerging social/economic trends; where we are preparing students to take exams and not to live and work in the 21st century."

This position is vigorously supported by adjunct professor at the university, Arnaldo Ventura, who says there is a direct relationship between the teaching of science and the socio-economic development of countries.

Both were addressing journalists at the Observer Monday Exchange yesterday.

Professor Ventura warned that the creation of much-needed jobs will not materialise unless Jamaica makes significant improvement in science and mathematics education.

"We talk glibly about innovation, but if we don't improve our performance in math and science we're in big trouble now, and we will be in bigger trouble later on. We have a National Commission on Science and Technology and we have completely ignored it. All this talk about how great our capitalists are - they're really not," said an impassioned Ventura, who was an advisor to former Prime Minister PJ Patterson on science and technology.

He is now among a team of officials from the Mico University College who are planning a conference on the teaching of Mathematics and education, set for March 19 and 20.

Dr Benjamin, who is chair of the organising committee for the conference, called for the study of at least one science subject to be made compulsory for all Jamaican students. He pointed to other data showing that more than 60 per cent of students fail to achieve pass grades 1-3 in Mathematics.

He said integrated science with a reviewed curriculum should be made compulsory for those students not taking physics, chemistry and biology.

Ventura supported this view, stating that there should be "no science stream" in schools, and that "everyone should take science up to grade 10 at least."

At the same time, head of the Mathematics Department at Mico, Novlet Plunkett, pointed to shortcomings of the education system that need to be addressed before this can be effectively introduced.

"To support the making of science compulsory, the Ministry of Education needs to take a look at all the laboratory facilities in schools, some of which are in very poor condition," Plunkett said.