Wallace still fuelling her dreams at 40
Published:Saturday | February 19, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer
SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:
FOR THE past three years, Michelle Wallace has been working as an assistant teacher at Gemeva's Preparatory School in Kitson Town, St Catherine. The 40-year-old has always wanted to enrol in a teachers' college. However, insufficient subjects in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations and lack of finances have dogged her dream for a number of years.
But in September 2010, a friend introduced her to New Life Evening Institute on Port Henderson Road in Spanish Town. Since that time, Wallace has been pursuing mathematics, English language, and social studies, which she will sit in the 2011 exams.
Wallace is confident that with the tutelage she is getting, she will add these subjects to the three she has already obtained.
"Since I've been coming here, the teachers have really been putting out great interest in us," she told The Gleaner. "There are times when you don't really understand in class, and they'll take the time out after class to sit with you just to go through, and there are times when they will ask you to come for some extra hours on other days."
Needs met
The institute, operated by the New Life Foundation, out of the New Life Worship Centre, is the vision of the Reverend Andrew Steele. The institution has been catering to the educational needs of residents of Spanish Town and its environs since 2003.
As Sandra Gayle, administrator of the institute, explained to The Gleaner, participants can pursue up to seven subjects in an academic year.
"We don't charge per subject, they just pay one flat fee," Gayle explained. "What we try to do is not to pressure persons to have the full money upfront, so they are able to pay as little as a quarter of the fees down, and they can come in and pay the fees as they have it,"
The classes are taught by trained teachers in the normal school system who volunteer their time.
"We have done very well with the limited resources that we've had. Our students have come, they (the teachers) have worked along with us, (and) it has been done. The teachers are just stalwarts," said Gayle.
"Four persons did not pass anything at all. We got a 92 per cent pass rate for social studies, 50 per cent for mathematics and English language. We came out with a 60 per cent pass rate for all the other subjects," reported Gayle.
Free education
She describes the institute, which also offers free remedial education, as unique.
Gayle said on a yearly basis, the institute reviews the CXC results subject by subject to identify the areas where students fell down and does an assessment, then attacks that area. She added that a workshop is conducted close to the exams, and focus is placed on students' interpretation of the questions.
Beneficiary, Camiella Shettlewood obtained passes in three subjects, including mathematics and English language, while 20 year-old Taneisha Johnson passed two subjects in 2009.
Michelle Wallace will be among the 22 persons who will sit the exams this year.