Quality of teachers attracts increased attention –as sector moves towards universal secondary education

Apr 25, 2014 News

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The quality of teachers is gaining keen attention even as moves are being made to achieve universal secondary education. Moreover, since last year the Ministry of Education has been working to upgrade its teachers’ training programme in hinterland communities in Regions One, Eight and Nine.
This strategic move, according to Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, is intended to permit more persons to become eligible to access the trained teachers’ certificate programme.
In fact, she disclosed during the recent budget debates that a total of 159 teachers were so certified last year.
But in order to ensure that only the best students are allowed to pursue this programme, Manickchand disclosed that “we did something that was painful to us but was very necessary…Students in the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) who failed three or more subjects were asked to apply again to come back into the school.”
In the quest to ensure that quality is not compromised, Manickchand said that the Ministry is also working towards designing, for the first time, an appraisal document. This is expected to see better qualified lecturers delivering the teachers’ education curriculum.
Currently there are 23 lecturers between CPCE and the University of Guyana, two of whom are undertaking doctorates, and the remainder engaged in Masters, with a view of being better prepared to cater to the teachers in training, according to Manickchand.
And the training of teachers is certainly not a hopeless undertaking, the Minister said, as she dispelled reports of teachers ‘leaving in hundreds and droves’. She instead disclosed that the Education sector is in fact faced with an opposing challenge, whereby a number of teachers are now returning to the system. Some of these teachers, she divulged, had broken their contracts in order to leave in the first place.
And since the Ministry is not willing to turn away such professionals, Manickchand said that the entity has in place a policy which ensures that the defaulting teachers pay-off what they owe before being allowed back into the system.
“These are Guyanese, so we try to work out how we could get around the breaking of the contracts,” noted the Minister, even as she highlighted plans to realise universal secondary education.
But achieving this objective will not be without some challenges when the geographical reach of the country is considered. As such the Minister cautioned that “we cannot build a school in every village…Assuming we were to find oil and we had all the money in the world, it still will not be in the best interest of those children.”
Detailing the efforts directed thus far towards universal secondary education, she disclosed that in Region One, for instance, the major challenge is to ensure that transportation (boats and engines) are in place to get students to schools that are already built. Region Two on the other hand, she revealed, is much closer to achieving the intended goal, save the need for about eight more class rooms.
And in Region Three the Ministry has already started work to rebuild the Zeeburg Secondary School, which will accommodate students from both the Zeeburg and St John Schools at East Bank Essequibo, even as plans are being finalised for a 1000-person secondary school at La Parafait Harmonie, West Bank of Demerara.
With the construction of a secondary school at Soesdyke and another at Lusignan to accommodate children placed in primary tops, Region Four will be well on its way to providing conducive secondary learning facilities for secondary students.
In the meantime, works to extend the Mahaicony Secondary and other works across Region Five will soon see the Ministry coming closer to realising universal secondary education, Manickchand said. Added to this, she said that construction work at Tutorial Academy and other facilities will also see Region Six attaining similar status to Region Five.
Meanwhile, the Minister observed that Region Seven is in need of a secondary school which will be constructed along the Mazaruni River.
“We are looking at it. Because of where that school is going to be it will cost our country somewhere between $600 and $700 million, so that is not something that we are doing this year, but we are looking at how best we can do that,” said Manickchand.
“We know those children need another school and we are committed in this Government to build that other school.”
At the moment, works are engaged at the Mahdia Secondary School to expand that facility, while another is under construction at Cato, and is slated to be completed by next year, bringing Region Eight closer to attaining universal secondary education.
Preparation for works at the St Ignatius Secondary in Region Nine is being streamlined, and the Minister disclosed that already Region 10 is on the verge of achieving the intended goal.
“We will be able to, with the allocations in the budget, bring in many of the Regions and be able to better prepare our children for Guyana tomorrow,” said a confident Minister Manickchand.

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