Countrymen and women, loyalists and opponents,

Whiles I was in New York, I heard tales about the so-called computerized selection and placement system that has been adopted by the Education Service of Sikaman, popularly known as GES. This system, as its name implies, is being used to determine how fresh junior secondary leavers are selected and placed in senior secondary school. From what I hear, the system is causing a lot of headache for students, their parents and even some school heads. If it?s any consolation for those affected, I?d like to say that I am also not happy about the new system.

Don?t get me wrong. I am no technophobe. The fact that I don?t have sophisticated Internet skills (I don?t even know how to hold a computer mouse properly) does not mean that I don?t like technology. I love the new information communication technologies and I strongly believe that we can use ICT to develop our country. However, I think the GES and the company it contracted to develop this computerized selection and placement programme have gotten it all wrong.