Last week, photographs of school children from Taymouth Manor Primary School, Essequibo, Berbice Islamic School and Leguan Secondary School, appeared on the social media page of Team Mohamed. According to the Face Book page, these photographs are of Azruddin Mohamed posing with the children and his sports cars at his "Houston Estate".
The Team Mohamed post further stated that the children from these select schools had expressed an interest in meeting this businessman. "While at the estate, the children who were accompanied by their teachers were fascinated and elated to have seen Mr. Mohamed's fleet of vehicles including the Lamborghini and Ferrari up close."
Upon reading the post, I was confused. From a layperson's perspective, I tried but did not find the nexus between visiting Mohamed's " Houston Estate" and any educational value intrinsic or otherwise. Is there a manufacturing facility of some sort on site? A motor vehicle assembly line perhaps? Maybe some type of cottage industry?
As I am not by training an educator, I sought to interview a couple of teachers on curriculum development and the basis for educational tours. These educators, including a retired head teacher have more than 40 years of experience combined.
According to the teachers, school trips are specifically planned around the curriculum. Discussions between the head teachers and the other teachers are held with respect to the foregoing. The standard is to then write the ministry seeking permission for field trips. After such permission has been obtained, the head then informs the Parent Teacher Association executive body as to the school term' s planned acitivities.
Given that the above mentioned is the standard by which the schools in Guyana are mandated to operate, then how did the Mohamed estate visit debacle fructify?
Unsurprisingly, the consensus from the teachers I spoke with was that educational tours were usually restricted to manufacturing companies, sugar estates, rice mills, and the poultry and cattle industries. Also, monuments, land marks and places of interest such as the Guyana Museum, the National Agricultural Reseach Institute too are included. It is not the practice to tour the private residences of businessmen to view their car collection.
What is interesting, is that out of all the schools in Guyana these specific schools all located out of town, reportedly expressed interest in 'meeting' Mohamed. Rather strange too that no schools in Georgetown and its environs appears to have indicated a similar interest. Was this testing the waters so to speak? Is there something else at play here? Was it really the idea of the children from these schools? Or was it suggested to specific teachers and head teachers? Given that the Ministry of Education has to give its blessing to educational trips/tours, this then begs the question how is it that teachers and the heads of not one but three schools did not know that permission for educational field trips has to be sought first from the ministry? Surely, it cannot be argued that because they are schools located out of town, they were not aware of the rules governing field trips.
Following the Team Mohamed's self-aggrandizing post and the ensuing criticism in some quarters, Chief Education Officer Saddam Hussain, on behalf of the Ministry hastily issued a memorandum to all schools. In its memorandum, the ministry stated that it has observed that "some schools are conducting educational tours to locations/ places that do not contribute to better student outcomes." The memorandum added that with immediate effect, the Principal Education Officer and all Regional Education Officers must implement regulations. Among the requirements listed are that permission for tours outside of the accepted and usual tour destinations are immediately withdrawn. Additionally, any amendment to the approved list of places that could be visited, will result in disciplinary action against the head teacher and teachers on such tours. However, it should be noted that in a subsequent report that appeared in the press, or in its memorandum, the ministry did not name the Mohamed tour.
What's disconcerting though, is that in three schools, the head teachers and teachers on that tour were all of the view that it was of educational value. That speaks to a more serious underlying problem with respect to the education system in Guyana. That is the quality of its teachers. Reports are that the institution responsible for training teachers, the Cyril Potter College of Education has its own ongoing issues. Among such issues are that trainees who gained acceptance to the college in September 2022, have not begun classes but are already in the classroom. They will likely graduate next year as trained teachers.
The take away from this misguided field trip is just how easily swayed some educators entrusted with shaping Guyana's most precious resource, became carried away by the thought of touring an "estate" and seeing luxury sports cars. In reality, this "estate", is not an industrial complex of any sort. Rather, it is a house with a swimming pool and a garage with some luxury cars. One can only wonder at the end of the day if this was about bragging rights.
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