Education sector not affected by teachers’ migration

Jul 10, 2013 News

– Minister Manickchand

Although teachers’ migration is not entirely a thing of the past, it has certainly not had a dire impact on the public school system of recent. At least this was the deduction of Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, and Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam.
The two were addressing the media at a recent press conference held at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD).
Sam said that migration has not been a major concern for the Education Ministry adding that “we have in fact seen a recognisably significant increase in the number of people applying to teach so we are at a different place.”
Manickchand in support of her chief officer said that the education sector is even being boosted by a re-migration of teachers.
“I spoke to two teachers – husband and wife – who returned from The Bahamas and one is going to apply to teach at a high school here…” the Minister asserted.
Moreover, she said that the concerns that the sector had in the past about the exodus of teachers is no longer there. She alluded to a significant surplus of teachers at the primary school level adding that “we believe there is a strong correlation between trained teachers and children doing well.”
The Minister said that Region 10, has been an example of this development, and is in fact a Region with 100 per cent trained teachers at the nursery, primary and secondary levels.
This, according to Manickchand, has allowed for Linden to consistently produce the best results for the nation, emphasising a “huge correlation.”
The Minister disclosed too that the country has moved from having 30 per cent trained teachers to 70 per cent, thereby allowing for corresponding moves in grades.
As such she reiterated that the exodus pattern of teachers has changed significantly, even as she pointed out that while teachers are still migrating they are not going disproportionately. This has therefore allowed for the required teacher to students ratio, at least in the primary schools.
“We have one teacher to 25 students…in my time we had one teacher to 40 students. I want to see it come down to one teacher to 15 students. Fifteen students are more likely to pass and so I want to see it come down to 15,” the Minister stated.
And even as the Ministry looks to achieve this ambitious goal, Manickchand said that training of teachers has improved. She explained that this is no longer limited to a trained teachers’ certificate but rather to an even higher level.
“So training is not stopping at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE). In fact we have gone further…we are actually taking our trained teachers to the level of a degree,” the Minister emphasized.
She also seized the opportunity to highlight that the Education Ministries of the past hadn’t a history of being open about results and performance.
“We don’t believe that we should huddle around bad results and bad grades because it is not just our responsibility to change them, it is the entire country that must be on the trajectory to making sure that our children do well.
“So we believe you will hear from us first before you hear from any Member of Parliament or any politician or anybody else who has an interest,” Manickchand said.
At the moment the Ministry’s effort in this regard is guided by regular publications and according to the Minister, “our Chief Planning Officer, Ms Evelyn Hamilton, should take a bow for producing yearly digests.”

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Education sector not affected by teachers’ migration

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