YCG to dispatch 50 volunteer teachers to far-flung regions

Sep 03, 2014 News

— as moves made to improve tutoring process with ‘Coaching’

Volunteer teachers have over the years been helping to fill a crucial teaching void in some public education institutions. Moreover, the Ministry of Education has been working closely with organisations the likes of Youth Challenge Guyana (YCG) which offers a Volunteer Teachers Programme.
The programme is one that specifically targets far-flung areas that the Ministry is often hard-pressed to provide with adequately skilled teachers.

YCG’s Dmitri Nicholson and Nadine Sanchara

During the past school year, YCG’s programme was able to cater to more than 1,500 students by the placement of 53 volunteer teachers at 27 schools – 26 primaries and one secondary – across sections of Regions One, Two, Three, Four, Seven, Eight and Nine.
And according to YCG’s Education Programme Manager, Ms Nadine Sanchara, based on an analysis of the programme, it was observed that students’ attendance rate has increased. This, according to her, translated to an 83.7 per cent attendance rate of students when compared to that of the previous year. Added to this, she noted that 82.4 per cent of the students recorded improved overall academic performances over the course of the past school year.
It is therefore the belief of YCG’s Executive Director, Dmitri Nicholson, that the improved performance and attendance rates could be directly linked to the enhanced teaching complement of teachers. He theorised that because there are aptly qualified teachers available to teach the students, the students are more inclined to attend school and become involved in the teaching/learning process.
He further amplified his belief that the evident result is a clear indication that the purpose of the programme is being realised, since it is helping to effectively increase children’s access to education.
And in order to continue to build on the gains made, Nicholson said that another batch of volunteer teachers will this week be dispatched to the various target regions to help in the process of educating the nation’s children. A total of 50 teachers are set to start offering their volunteer service from this school term.
But although YCG intends to continue to have a major hand in the volunteer teachers programme, Nicholson admitted that the venture may not have been sustainable without crucial support. He therefore pointed out that “because of our partnership with the Ministry of Education and CUSO International, we are able to acquire the funds to put the volunteer teachers into the schools.”
Currently the Education Ministry plays a significant role in providing the resources for the volunteers to offer their teaching service, while CUSO helps to maintain the operational cost of having the volunteers function effectively away from their homes.
ADDRESSING SHORTCOMINGS
However, the efficacy of the programme has not been without some challenges. In fact Nicholson noted that while efforts are made to ensure that only suitably qualified people are selected to undertake the teaching task there have been some negative feedback.
And some of the concerns that have been highlighted in the recent past include disclosures that some teachers appear not too enthusiastic about fulfilling their teaching mandate. This was particularly emphasised recently when Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, convened a stakeholders’ forum in Region Seven.
To address this and other challenges, YCG will be looking to conduct a ‘Coaching’ programme which will see experts in the field of education visiting the schools where volunteer teachers are stationed to implement measures that can aid their improved performances.
According to Nicholson, one of the weaknesses identified by some of the teachers themselves is their inability to effectively attend to multi-grades.
“Even though they are provided with training, the coach will still be on the ground with them to see where their weaknesses lie, and once this is done, they will be able to get individualised attention on how to improve.”
“With individualised coaching our volunteer teachers’ teaching skills will be improved and we expect that their ethics will improve as well,” said an optimistic Nicholson.
In emphasising the importance of the volunteer teachers’ programme, he underscored that the venture is not only seen as an asset to the nation, but it is also an asset to young people in Guyana. Nicholson is hopeful that through volunteerism “young people can seize opportunities to develop themselves and become leaders in their own communities.”
He qualified his argument by pointing out that many past volunteer teachers have become leaders in the places in which they live and work and some have even used the volunteer teaching experience as a means of getting the skills they need to organise and mobilise their communities.
Moreover, Nicholson insisted that volunteerism can easily serve as a stepping stone for persons who are desirous of getting into a fulltime teaching career.