ONE hundred and three teachers from throughout Guyana, who, successfully, completed an 18 months non-graduate certificate course in Mathematics and English, were honoured by the Ministry of Education yesterday. The training was in keeping with the Ministry objective to improve performance in those two subject areas and a release said, the programme, a brainchild of Education Minister Shaik Baksh has equipped the non-graduate secondary school teachers of English and Mathematics with the requisite content to secure better results from their charges.
Speaking at the inaugural graduation ceremony, at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD), the Director, Mr. Mohandatt Goolsarran congratulated the batch on behalf of Mr. Baksh, who could not attend because of another important engagement.
Goolsarran said the achievement of the 103 is a reflection of their hard work, commitment and dedication to better themselves, as teachers, as well as their students’ performance.
He also announced that the group will benefit from salary increase and NCERD is to be extending the programme to include Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Information Technology (IT) and Special Needs Education.
Goolsarran said the performance of candidates in English and Mathematics at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations and the ability of teachers to effectively impart, over the years, has been a concern.
He said the Ministry of Education, in an effort to address those shortcomings, consulted with teachers at the secondary level, lecturers at University of Guyana (UG) and Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) and other professional partners, to devise a strategy on the way forward.
Goolsarran said, out of those consultations, the non-graduate course in English and Mathematics was developed and geared towards enhancing teachers content in the two subjects, which will, ultimately, result in better results from their students.
The tutelage, which was delivered through both distance and open learning methodologies, is also vital, in the sense that the supply of qualified teachers in English and Mathematics from UG cannot meet the current demands of the education sector.
Challenge
Goolsarran told the gathering at the function, which included Assistant Chief Education Officer (ACEO) Primary, Ms. Bibi Ali and ACEO Secondary, Ms. Melcita Bovell, that the recruitment of master trainers for the Mathematics was a challenge like getting the teachers to complete the programme.
He said the training had to be made compulsory to prevent a collapse of the initiative but pointed out that the number for the second batch of teachers enlisted for the Mathematics course looks healthy and encouraging.
Only 14 of the yesterday’s graduates were Mathematics teachers.
Meanwhile, apart from the non-graduate course, Goolsarran said NCERD also administers a continuous professional development programme for teachers.
He said NCERD has been circulating English and Mathematics lessons for secondary school students to schools, on compact discs (CDs), in addition to its English and Mathematics broadcast programmes on National Communications Network (NCN).
Goolsarran said schools are provided with text books, too, while several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have joined the fight to eliminate illiteracy.
He said the Ministry of Education is hoping to make all Guyanese literate in the next five years and the new graduates have a role to play in helping to achieve that benchmark.
Goolsarran said encouraging strides have been made to improve the teaching of the sciences and (IT) in schools.