The following is a continuation on my series addressing race relations as a factor of national development. Part I focused on determining whether ethnic conflict is a product of genetics or is socially constructed. Part II showed how ethnic conflict is socially constructed through perceptions. Today’s Perspectives focuses the issue of ethnic dominance.
GENERALLY, a multiethnic society has several ethnic groups, with each group comprising people with common cultural or physical characteristics and in positions of dominance and/or disadvantage. This is ethnic stratification. Any dominant ethnic group would have total access to the valued resources of society, and the disadvantaged ethnic groups would receive only minimum rewards. The dominant ethnic group, generally, sustains its control, power, and privileges through prejudice and discrimination.
A dominant ethnic group, generally, breeds and dispenses prejudice and discrimination to sustain its power base. Does Guyana have a dominant ethnic group? In education, we see students from schools from both African and Indian catchment areas excelling at the former Secondary School Entrance Examination (SSEE) and the Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CSEC).
| ‘Any dominant ethnic group would have total access to the valued resources of society, and the disadvantaged ethnic groups would receive only minimum rewards. The dominant ethnic group, generally, sustains its control, power, and privileges through prejudice and discrimination’ |
Generally, it is useful to review the scores of students who wrote the former SSEE and CSEC to determine student learning and educational efficiency (NCERD, 2002). And determining ethnicity was arbitrary, since there is hardly any official statistics by ethnicity; for this reason, arbitrarily, we identified individual students’ ethnicity by names, and aggregate scores on the basis of schools drawing students from both African and Indian catchment areas.
Passes at the SSEE/NGSA showed both Indians and African students dominating the success picture in 2009. The top SSEE/NGSA students in 2009 numbered 186 (NCERD, 2009) and comprised a representative ethnic mix: 88 (48%) were Indians, 77 (42%) were Africans, and 18 (10%) were of other ethnicities.
The maximum score attainable at the SSEE in 2002 was 562, and the highest performance score was 548. Both ethnic groups were among the top 3 with a score of 548. In the top 108 students, 54 (50%) were Indians and some 52 (48%) comprised Africans. And over the SSEE’s remaining years, both major ethnic groups shared marked academic improvements.
The CXC scores in 1992 were abysmally low: 9% in English, 5% in Social Studies, and 18% in Mathematics. At that time, too, the CXC scores did not compare well with some other Caribbean countries, given that only the highest achievers normally would present themselves for the CXC.
In 2009, information from NCERD showed that the 14 students who earned 11 Grade Ones attended these schools: Queen’s College, St. Rose’s High School, Anna Regina Secondary School, Bishops High School, West Demerara Secondary School, J.C. Chandisingh Secondary School, Saraswati Vidya Niketan, and Tagore Memorial. The point of this finding is to underscore the fact that these schools are a representative mix of ethnicity in this country.
The CXC 2009 results showed that the top five (5) secondary schools with the highest overall passes were Bishops High School (100% passes), Queen’s College (99.5% passes), West Demerara Secondary (97.2% passes), President’s College (97.1% passes) and Brickdam Secondary (95.8% passes). These schools comprised students mainly from the African and Indian ethnic groups.
Now, let us look at the top five (5) secondary schools with the most Grade Ones in 2009: Queen’s College (583 Grade Ones), Anna Regina Multilateral (431 Grade Ones), Bishop’s High School (397 Grade Ones), St. Joseph’s High (297 Grade Ones) and New Amsterdam Multilateral (204 Grade Ones). Again, these schools comprised students mainly from the Indian and African ethnic groups.
And then we have the top five (5) secondary schools with the most Grade Twos in 2009: Anna Regina Multilateral (515 Grade Twos), Berbice High School (443 Grade Twos), New Amsterdam Multilateral (439 Grade Twos), St. Joseph’s High (345 Grade Twos) and St. Rose’s High (332 Grade Twos). Yet again, these schools comprised students mainly from the African and Indian ethnic groups.
NCERD issued this comment about the students’ performance: “The distribution of successes in 2001 seems to indicate that good results have been spread more widely across the regions with twenty more candidates over the 2000 forty-eight candidates obtaining excellent results and these have been spread in nine more schools with Region 9, a hinterland region being one of them” (NCERD 2002). Clearly, a greater spread of successes across various Regions and the inclusion of nine more schools demonstrated a greater ethnic representation.
In addition, if Indians have dominance in the society, then we will see the pre-eminence of Indian values in public policies in areas, such as, education, language, law, welfare and religion. One can hardly say that only Indian values permeate the public institutions of this country. Then, where is Indian dominance? Again, if there is African dominance, then we will see the pre-eminence of African values in public policies in areas, such as, education, language, law, welfare, and even religion. One can hardly say that only African values permeate the public institutions of this country. Indeed, the evidence shows that public policies do reflect beliefs, values, and interests of most, if not all, ethnics.
Misir’s study showed that there is comparability with African level of participation and Indian level of participation throughout the Public Service. Africans also predominate among School Heads, the State Boards, and they receive a good portion of budgetary allocations in the Regions. Both major ethnic groups also enjoy appropriate representations in the professions, especially in the legal, medical and teaching professions. Paradoxically, education once covertly denied to Indians, subsequently, became the instrument of social mobility for them on a grand scale, especially, in the medical and legal professions.
A person’s socioeconomic status (SES) largely determines a person’s class position in society. One method, among others, for determining a person’s SES happens by constructing a composite index on education, occupation, and income. For instance, an Indian with a low SES will have a low class position. The same line of argument holds for Africans, or any other ethnic group.
Both Indian and African students, measured only on the education indicator, seem to share comparable SES by virtue of examination passes; nonetheless, we cannot definitively conclude on students’ class status, as their family’s occupation and income are other SES indicators that require measurement.
Nevertheless, given these limitations on SES measurement and general observations on education, we may say that each tier of the class structure shows that both groups in relation to their demographic proportions have appropriate representations in education. But there is need for scientific research on SES in Guyana to establish its reliability and validity.
