Astaphans say USE is flawed

     Businessman and former President of the DAIC Michael Astaphans said Dominica's Universal Secondary Education Policy is flawed and places students, teachers and parents under undue pressure. Astaphans said a major componet of the USE Policy must be to educate children for life.

     Just when you thought the dust from the debates over universal secondary education (USE) had settled, businessman and former President of the DAIC, Michael Astaphans has once again reopened the issue. Speaking at a ceremony to launch the Dominica Grammar School’s School Development Planning Astaphans said USE “is flawed and places undue pressure on students, teachers and parents.” While conceding that a USE Policy was a noble one for Dominica and that all students must be given the opportunity to be the best they can be, the businessman insisted a USE Policy could not be just to secure places for students at a secondary school. Astaphans believes a major component of that policy must be to educate children for life. He identified primary school education as “the foundation in that preparation.”
     Laying blame at the primary schools, Astaphans chided the system for not doing enough to prepare children for USE. “The education of our children” he said, “ is by far the most important task of any nation and it must be given the priority that it deserves.” Astaphans questioned whether the schools were instilling in children the necessary discipline, knowledge of the world around them and hunger for excellence. He doubted that students were given adequate “opportunities in sports, culture, the arts and sciences” and the ability to handle relationships and conflicts.
     Meanwhile, in an apparent reaction to the Astaphans’ comments, Ted Serrant, Chief Educational Planner in the Ministry of Education said, “Everyone in this country has a right to an education.” Serrant, also stated that it was important to understand “[Dominica] needed an educated workforce and currently the rate at which our students are being educated and the quality of education they are getting is questionable.”
     While the Ministry of Education has been able to provide secondary school places for all students over the last two years, Serrant reluctantly admitted, in an apparent capitulation to Astaphans, “ we really needed to do more to improve the quality of our education.”