Are we paying adequate attention to the teaching of History?

Dear Editor, Have we lost our sense of history? This week marks the 65th anniversary of the suspension of the Waddington Constitution on 9th October, 1953. I saw no reference in the press to that historical fact. Perhaps, your paper can start a column called “Today in History”. But this omission brings to the fore a greater concern. Have we lost our collective sense of history? Are we paying adequate attention to the teaching of History in our schools and in our Teachers College and in our university? I can recall our failure in 2003 and in 2013 to mark 50 years and 60 years respectively of the introduction of ministerial government in our country. (And two of those six ministers are still alive today). In our attempts at nationbuilding, our young people need to be constantly educated about our glorious past, even within living memory, so as to be galvanized to the heights to be attained.

I am also mindful of the important role of the study of History in education after recently acquiring three mighty tomes. I have completed “An Accidental Life” by the late Professor Harold Drayton, and “A Survey of Guyanese History” by Dr. Winston McGowan. I am now dipping into “A People’s Political History of Guyana 1838-1964” by Dr. Kimani S.K. Nehusi.

We can speculate about what Guyana might have been if the Constitution was not suspended in 1953 and if the nationalist movement was not fractured in 1955. After 52 years of Independence from the colonial masters, the country has not developed to the desired level in spite of the fact that we have more natural resources than any other nation in our Caribbean Community. We still have to needlessly fight among ourselves for the spoils of office after every change of government. We are constantly dissipating our energies in this battle to the detriment of the masses. We need to spend more time and money on development of ourselves and our communities as in the past years of the ‘self-help’ movement. Villagers need to clean up their surroundings: no litter, no bushes, fences mended and painted, drains and trenches cleaned and free from weeds. Councils in town and country must ensure that streets are without pot-holes and that parapets are trimmed and manicured all year long, as in the Garden City of Georgetown in days of yore.

At the national level, policies and systems must be in place and effective, so as to make more real the words of our National Anthem, which says in the third stanza: “And ours is the glory their eyes did not see, /Our land of six peoples, united and free.” We must also prove that Rev. Hawley Bryant was right when in educating the next generation, we teach them, according to the fourth stanza of “The Song of Guyana’s Children”:

“Thus to the land which to us God has given

May our young lives bring a gift rich and rare

Thus as we grow, may the worth of Guyana

Shine with a glory beyond all compare.”

The question must now be asked as to how many of our 100+ secondary schools (government and private) still teach History for CSEC examination since the number of candidates in Guyana for this subject is certainly under 1,000. It means that in time still fewer students will offer the subject at the tertiary level in order to return as teachers to renew and re-invigorate the school system. Perhaps, in another generation, the subject will not be taught in secondary schools. Lest we forget, how many schools now offer French? Will History follow the same path towards elimination? And the study of History is not only for teaching. The skills learnt are also applicable to analysis of problems, to decision-making, and to general administration in public and in private entities.

Therefore, the Ministry of Education, as well as the Department of Culture, Youth and Sports, has a role to play in keeping alive our sense of history on the occasion of events of local and national importance. These events will also include the more significant anniversaries (25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 75th, 100th, 125th, 150th) of our schools and other institutions. We must not glibly claim that we are bringing up the next generation, or that the children are the future of the nation, or that we mould the nation.

The people in a community need to be educated in the history of our educational institutions, so that they may more willingly contribute in cash or in kind or in labour to the welfare of their schools, and then to other local institutions like the Health Centres.

And by the way, come January 2019, Guyana will be observing the centenary of the first Trade Union in the Englishspeaking Caribbean – the Guyana Labour Union. One would like to believe that the GLU, and the GTUC, and FITUG, and the relevant department at UG, and the major political parties, have already drawn up plans to hold exhibitions and symposia and parades in order to celebrate this unique historic occasion. After all, we have not lost our sense of history! Yours faithfully, Walter B. Alexander Retired Deputy Permanent Secretary