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Education Minister slams extra lessons

Oct 11, 2010 News

– unnecessary if school system is working
“A culture has developed, whereby, extra lessons are actually being forced in a very subtle way on students in our school system,” said Minister of Education Shaik Baksh.
According to the Minister, this development is not only unacceptable but is in fact an unnecessary move.
“I do not see why schools like Queen’s College and Bishops, among other schools, where they get the cream of the students or the top performers. Why are extra lessons needed?”
He revealed that almost 70 percent of those top students are attending lessons, a situation which much be reversed urgently.  The Minister highlighted that it has been observed that extra lessons have become “big business.” He noted though that it is understood that there is nothing that the education system can do to prevent the practice when teachers are free, but noted that it can in fact seek to ensure that teachers utilise the prescribed teaching periods for teaching.
“I know that some teachers are moonlighting in the schools. They are not teaching the people’s children and are pushing them to the extra lessons. Those high-flyers I am talking about, they don’t need lessons if the school system is operating the way it should.”
“They are putting more burden and pressure on these children; there is no extra lesson for sports and physical education and all of the other kinds of social activities for these children…” According to the Minister, he is calling on the head teachers of schools to reverse the current trend by being more vigilant and ensure that students are taught in an optimal fashion.
“I know it is a hard job but head teachers have to know what their teachers are doing. What I am saying here is from my own personal experience. It is not only what I have been getting from parents. I have also fallen into that…personally”.
He made reference to one instance where a teacher was not teaching accountancy in the school system thereby causing the students to be unprepared to pass such an examination. “The teacher wasn’t teaching any accountancy so the children could not have passed the exam and the head of the school had seemed oblivious to what was taking place. So all of the children from that class were forced to go to a teacher to be taught extra lessons…In the area of Literature there was the same problem as well as in Mathematics and almost all of the subjects.”
In addition to addressing “moonlighting” practices, the Minister noted that, the Ministry has commenced an innovative programme where teachers can seek help if they discover that there is a weakness being exhibited among students. Teachers, he said, must approach their head teachers, adding that “I know it can’t be done in a year. I am a realist but we can work to change this situation even though it will take some time to remedy it,” Baksh added.
According to the Minister, giving extra teaching time to challenging subject areas such as English and Mathematics is currently being contemplated.
“Why is it we cannot give extra teaching times to English and Mathematics? If these are the challenging subjects why can’t we do that?”  While the aim is not to micro-manage the way schools operate, Baksh noted that it is being suggested that head teachers timetable extra hours for the two subject areas. Teachers, according to Baksh, can seek to add an extra hour or two for mathematics classes, if they are of the belief that there is a weakness in that subject areas. “You are free to consult if you see the need; consult with the relevant Assistant Chief Education Officer Secondary for advice…We don’t want to give a prescription we want improvement,” said Minister Baksh.

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