The Ministry of Education welcomes the move by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) in implementing its recommendations to discipline errant teachers in the school system. This development the Ministry firmly believes will instill in teachers the need to be disciplined individuals in their conduct and delivery of the instructional programmes in the classroom.

However, the Ministry, in a release yesterday,  expressed concerned about a statement in a TSC release that appeared in the media on Thursday, stating: “rationalisation was a very sore subject in almost every region.”

The Ministry wishes to make its position very clear on this issue, the release said.

“ The process of rationalization is ongoing and it seeks to have adequate number of qualified teachers in the classroom according to students/teachers ratio and subjects offered.

“It must be pointed out that the TSC is the sole authority to appoint teaching staff to all schools not governed by boards; hence the Commission is partly responsible for the overstaffing.

“In quite a few regions, there were both overstaffed and understaffed schools and the process was geared to correct this problem in accordance with the Ministry of Education principle on overstaffing.

“In keeping with this principle, many of the teachers who were transferred were acting teachers.

“The Ministry of Education also wishes to make it clear that teachers were given adequate notice of the rationalization process and the need for such an exercise which was implemented according to the regulations.  

“More recently too, the intention of this exercise was explained by Hon. Minister of Education Shaik Baksh during the debate on the budget estimates in the National Assembly in response to questions from the Opposition benches”.