MP Angelique Romou (centre) at the forum.
PHILIPSBURG--Chairperson of Parliament’s Committee of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Affairs, Member of Parliament (MP) Angelique Romou recently participated in a panel discussion in Argentina, where she spoke extensively about challenges of education in the 21st century.
Romou said though times have changed, not much has changed in the educational system as it relates to meeting the specific needs of children. Meeting the needs of children would allow them to flourish in today’s society, whereas not meeting their needs may have an adverse effect and cause them to be lost or go astray, she said. Romou said parliaments all over the world can have a major impact on creating the much-needed diversification in education by applying and making amendments to laws.
“In doing research, which was primarily done by seeking the opinions of our youth, I received and combined some very interesting points as it pertains to education and the importance and value of it.”
She said without an education system, many would not learn the basics, such as reading, writing, maths, etc. Through social interaction at school, children can foster new friendships and decipher wrong from right. Having the opportunity to learn different subjects in school also helps students decide what they would like to be when they grow up, as they get the feeling of what they are interested in and what they are not interested in.
She believes that school systems are failing students and indicated that parliamentarians should advocate for positive change.
“In my opinion, the approach taken when it comes to school is too streamlined and is limited in individuality and creativity. School isn’t creative enough. There is often only one way of doing things and many times the focus is primarily on that one way. While a student may figure out multiple ways to get to the same result, focus is paid to the one way the teacher is teaching, and not much attention is paid to the student’s creative ways of finding the same answer, and in some cases, they are penalised if their way isn’t the teacher’s way.
“With all that we are exposed to, we should be allowing our children to thrive in this modern world of technology, but yet there are way too many outdated methods being utilised in schools, not allowing our modern-day children to fully benefit in a technological world,” said Romou.
When asked whether educational programmes or laws in St. Maarten equip young people to compete in the global digital changing world, Romou said educational laws currently do not provide for this. However, the MP does want to see changes and amendments made to educational laws to reflect and acknowledge the importance of 21st century skills, including the skills and expertise needed to function in a global digital world.
She highlighted the current technology project being implemented by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport – the iSTEP programme – in which she was able to see first-hand the benefits and strides of this programme when it comes to implementing technology in education and prepping students with 21st century skills as the programme caters to empowering young people with technology.
The concern of the MP is the lack of continuity and sustainability when government changes, which can hinder positive projects from continuing on their trajectory. “Therefore, having our laws amended to reflect the need for incorporating technology in our educational system is important, no matter the change of legislators or changes in the executive branch.”
In response to a question from the media on whether St. Maarten’s budget adequately addresses the educational needs of its people, Romou said education forms the largest part of the country’s national budget. However, there are still inadequacies our educators are faced with, for example, the lack of school materials. “We have passionate educators who go out and make it happen in order to get the school materials they need and I have also experienced this as an educator myself.”
The MP then further elaborated in a follow-up answer on her amendments made to the budget to increase the amounts for school materials of public schools to help alleviate this burden on educators.
Romou ended her speech by stating that the education system needs to foster and breed a new generation of confident leaders who are versed in their God-given talent and not programmed to be like everybody else. “We need to legislate change that equips our youth for the new generation of learning, which will not only promote excitement for learning, but learning which explores all possibilities of innovation and creativity.”
She thanked the organisers for the invitation and for covering the cost in Villa La Angostura, Bariloche, Argentina.
