WITH Government placing special emphasis on achievement of social cohesion in Guyana, calls are being made for ethnic studies to be prominent among curriculums in schools throughout Guyana, from nursery to university, to ensure mass education and respect of the rights of individuals.Such a call was made by Technical Advisor to the Minister of Education, and Chairman of the Forbes Burnham Foundation, Vincent Alexander, during a presentation titled ‘Restating and Extrapolating Burnham’s Approach to Social Cohesion.

Alexander was at the time speaking at an event organised by the Burnham Foundation at St. Stanislaus College, Georgetown, to commemorate the 94th birth anniversary of late President Linden F.S. Burnham, Guyana’s first executive President.

Alexander outlined in his presentation that what Guyana now calls social cohesion was birthed out of Burnham in his campaign for ‘national unity’ and listed education as a key avenue through which social cohesion can be accomplished.
“At present, the school curriculum does not emphasise ethnic studies … ethnic studies should be seen as an essential element of a total package which should focus on cultural tolerance and ethnic co-existence.”

He said the curriculum should also encourage extra-curricular interaction among students of different ethnic and religious backgrounds to ensure communication on non-academic matters which will eventually create avenues for developing mutual respect.

“Ethnic studies should not be treated as just another academic subject. It should be regarded as a learning experience which would positively impact on the children’s view of each other as members of the same or different ethnic groups,” Alexander stated.

HISTORICAL BEGINNING
Guyanese must admit the fact that division exists, and while many Guyanese, even politicians and educators, blame the main political parties and their past and current leaders for ethnic division, Alexander points to its historical beginnings.
He said during the period of colonialism through slavery and indentureship, division was created, with slave masters in their attempts to win support from particular ethnic groups at their own convenient times, skillfully putting one group against the other.

After Guyana became completely independent of British rule, the fight to end such deep-rooted divisions and insubordination began so that the country can operate truly as a “cooperative” society under a single national identity – Guyanese.

Alexander explained that while some political leaders genuinely attempted national unity, there was a single one, former President Janet Jagan, who walked out on such talks.

That was the only Guyanese political leader or President who was not born Guyanese, and she was widely accused of corrupting good practices.

A Centre for Ethnic studies should be established within the University of Guyana (UG) as a point of research and mass studies on the topic with the hope of erasing hatred through education.

Alexander said UG should take the step in occupying its rightful intellectual space in providing intellectual leadership.

“In that regard, the university should establish a Centre for Ethnic Studies. That centre should be responsible for conducting research on the diverse ethnic groups of Guyana. The research should also be focused on identifying the objective existence of ethnic groups. It should highlight that there are no inherent antagonisms to each other in our ethnic beings. That identification and highlight should be the basis for mutual respect among the ethnic groups. The research should also be focused on debunking the stereotypes and prejudices and the resultant negative attitudes toward each other without undermining each group’s right to preserve its being,” he said.

If the university considers the recommendation, research findings can be used in educating the masses, formulating policies and teaching of prescribed courses at UG and ‘the lower rungs’ of the education sector.

SCHOOL CURRICULUM
It also should be a source feeding information to NCERD, in executing its duty of curriculum preparation for the formal school system.
“The curriculum, both in its content and its methodology of delivery, should be fashioned in such a matter as to focus on ethnicity and related concepts and the desired attitudes and inter-ethnic relations… children should learn to respect each other’s right to an existence, irrespective of ethnicity, and consequently they should respect each other’s right to practice their own religion rather than demonise or disrespect each other’s religion and other attributes,” Alexander explained.

Students must also be made to understand “different ethnic groups have different collective psyches”, which are determined historically, and rather than misjudging attributes and attitudes as some inherent abnormality of a particular ethnic (collective) personality, they must know and respect them.

“It should be noted that the pedagogy of ethnic respect is not a stand-alone solution to the ethnic problem. It is but one of the essential elements to the resolution of the problem. However, it is argued that other elements of the package would not have the requisite impact if the pedagogical aspect is omitted. People’s respect for, the understanding of and conscious co-existence with each other is an essential element of the approach to the creation of a successful multi-ethnic society,” Alexander said.

Recently at a forum to encourage religious cohesion, United Nations Resident Representative, Mikiko Tanaka pointed out that though division might not be manifested here through racial and religious war and mass killings of any particular group, Guyana still cannot deny that such divisions exist.

“Guyana enjoys a peaceful society where ethnic and religious diversity and co-existence is generally accepted… the diverse cultural origins of the peoples of Guyanese have blended into a unique Guyanese culture… However, as any human society around the world, there are still tensions and discrimination. And like any other society around the world, the tensions erupt into violence; discrimination lead to exclusion, disempowerment and poverty.”

Mikiko reminded however that every individual is entitled to the rights set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and should enjoy peaceful existence.