PARAMARIBO – “They are not concerned about our education system. Changes are constantly being implemented without any concerns about the negative impact that these changes might have,”  dozens of school principals and teachers told Times of Suriname.  The principals are puzzled by the fact that education officials do not opt to implement the changes and reforms in phases. “Why don’t they carry out pilot projects first?”

A concerned teacher explained that the designated school system has been scrapped which is why parents who wanted to enroll their children in the 9th grade had to camp out in front of the mulo schools this year. “Several weeks ago parents who wanted to enroll their children in kindergarten, also had to camp out in front of the primary schools. Education officials failed to build more classrooms in areas where there are only a few small schools.”

Principals are puzzled by the decision to scrap the designated school system  because it had made it unnecessary for parents to camp out in front of their schools a day before the day of enrollments. They explained that people who live near the school were guaranteed a spot for their child because of this system. But now that the designated school system has been scrapped, there is a big chance that their children will be placed at a school that is located far from their home. A concerned mother told Times of Suriname that her son failed the 10th grade, because he only scored an average 5 points for history, biology and geography. She went to the Inspection Department where she was told that her son had to score an average of 6 points in order to pass to the 11th grade. “Why must my son redo an entire school year and why weren’t we informed of this at the beginning of the school year especially given the fact that many new subjects were added to the curriculum?”

Several sources claim that the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture wants to ‘dump’ the students who did not find a spot at the local mulo school at the LBO schools. Hundreds of parents have already made it clear that they do not want their children at those schools. They explained that their children worked hard to pass the 8th grade because they wanted to go to a school of their choosing and to the designated mulo schools. The parents explained that their children will feel Ike they are being punished for passing the 8th grade. Several principals explained that they have reserved two spots for each student from the 10th grade who has to retake the AVO exam on September 2,3 and 4. It is not clear if the students will fail the test again or if they will pass to the 11th grade which is the principals have reserved a spot for them in the 10th grade but also in the 11th grade…[+]