Cecil Ramsamugh: Providing solutions for Jamaica's numeracy problems

This week, as we try to add and subtract the importance of mathematics, Communications & Business Solutions Limited (CBS) spoke with Cecil Ramsamugh (CR), a mathematics teacher from Black River High School who has been teaching for 13 years, to get his views.

CBS: What kind of attention would you like to see placed on numeracy in Jamaica?

CR: Early-childhood education needs the proper resources and trained teachers. Numeracy starts at day one. A child learns most between birth and seven years old. Children, during their formative years, continue to miss out on the basics of mathematics because priorities of the decisionmakers are misguided.

CBS: In our classrooms, especially at the tertiary level, it's typically a female-dominated environment. Why is this?

CR: Boys tend to get caught up in assisting with the economic situation at home by going out to earn a living, and also, with the lack of a father figure or role model to inspire them, they often get distracted at an early age. These are some factors that may contribute to a female-dominated environment.

CBS: Black River High has been one of the top performing schools in the M&M Mathematics Competition so far. To what do you credit your successes?

CR: I credit the success over the years, to students' hard work and zeal to be successful.

CBS: In your opinion, is the study of mathematics important to a child's overall development, and if so, why?

CR: Yes. Mathematics helps you to be analytical and to be able to reason well.

CBS: Can you recommend some ways that parents and other teachers can get their children self-motivated and excited to do mathematics, and perform better.

CR: By taking an interest in students' work, parents can go through homework and students could seek assistance by getting extra support in the weak areas. Teachers could use more visually appealing methods such as technology in the classroom. Engage them in the areas they love, such as games.

CBS: How do you think the M&M Mathematics Competition may be used as a stimulus for students to excel academically?

CR: The objectives of the competition are many, and one such objective is to motivate students through prizes. When a student receives a prize, the student is motivated to do even better. The incentives are many. A scholarship has been awarded to a past competitor to pursue courses in mathematics at Church Teachers' College.

It seems the M&M Mathematics Competition is definitely a move in the right direction. What it has undoubtedly proven is that students can be motivated to pursue and thrive at maths. At a time when there is a need for intervention, the strategies employed by the M&M Mathematics Competition could hold solutions for forging a new direction in engaging students to learn mathematics.