FIFTY teachers indicating their interest have been enrolled into the Ministry of Education’s Cadet Officers Training programme and are now preparing to be assigned to the11 Education Districts as Education Officers.

According to a release from the Ministry, Deputy Chief Education Officer (Administration), Ingrid Trotman, said that the 50 teachers were chosen out of 128 applicants.
Forty were successful at their interviews while the additional 10 are persons already in the system attached to the Special Education Needs Unit at the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD) in the different regions.

An orientation exercise, which began yesterday, (Monday, February 26, 2019) is scheduled to last all week, after which the teachers will undergo an 18-month training programme prior to being assigned to the education districts.
Delivering the feature address to the new cadet officers was Chief Education Officer (CEO), Marcel Hutson, who had also benefitted from the Cadet Officers Training programme.
The CEO told the officers that the programme is aimed at producing officers with high standard and quality.

“We must take pride in our duties and our responsibilities. This programme has been strategically designed to help you understand the workings of the education system,” he remarked.
He added that during the course of the programme, the officers will recognise that the needs of the schools on the coast and the hinterland differ.
With this in mind, he urged the cadets to bring a new level of thinking that will influence change.

“There is a gap in performance and we must bridge that gap, and you must bring your talents and skills to bridge that gap,” Hutson encouraged.
The cadets were advised by the CEO that during their training they should embrace two main “watchwords” which are literacy and leadership.

He also encouraged them to preserve their integrity and challenged that by the end of the training they should use the knowledge acquired to make a difference.
Meanwhile, giving the new cadet officers words of advice on what to expect during the training, was Education Officer (Georgetown), Sherwyn Blackman.

He delivered words of reflection and focused on his experience as a cadet.
He told the cadets that they will be exposed to a wider span of information on how the Education sector operates, and will be given the opportunity to visit various education departments, particularly in the hinterland, where they will be involved in special projects.

Assistant Chief Education Officers (Nursery), Samantha Williams, who is also a product of the Cadet Officers Training, told the gathering that the best minds were chosen to lead and guide in the new year.

She told the cadets that the opportunity now exists for them to extend their legacy and contribute to a greater good by impacting and shaping the Education Ministry’s trajectory.
The Cadet Officers Training programme started in 1996 with 28 participants.
It continued in 2008 with three participants; in 2009 with five; in 2015 with 33 and now 50 cadet officers are enrolled in the 2019 batch.