OFFICIALS from the University of the West Indies (UWI) are calling for more action and less talk across the region to confront the low performance in mathematics at the secondary and tertiary levels.Dean in the Faculty of Science and Technology at the UWI Cave Hill Campus, Dr Colin Depradine, said the situation has reached the stage where urgent intervention is required.

He was the lead spokesperson at a symposium on mathematics held over the weekend at the university. The aim is to devise a plan to counter the challenge. The theme of the conference was: ‘Dare to be Different: Revitalising Mathematics’.

Dr Depradine said what is required is innovative, sustainable and actionable ideas. “The fact is that we live in a cash-strapped environment within the region, and so any approach that we adopt has to be different from what is normally seen in the world. Copying others has pretty much failed, and will continue to fail. Our situation is unique to us, and we must adopt unique solutions,” he said.

Dr Justin Robinson, Dean in the Faculty of Social Sciences, pointed to a “maths phobia” in the region. He noted that there appears to be competency in the subject area up to 11-plus exams, and this competency rapidly reverses at the secondary school level. That problem, Dr Robinson said, often spills over into the university.

“For the last academic year, we delivered in our faculty 132 courses; and of those courses, there were 31 that had a failure rate higher than 25 per cent, and 29 of those courses were mathematical courses,” he said.

“What we find as well is that, in many areas, analysis can be enhanced if you bring to bear the mathematics; but a lot of students, even though they’re doing their degree, are not getting the maximum benefit because they almost wind up sitting down on the soft side of the discipline.”