-says ministry willing to facilitate transition of teachers to more suited professions

THE Ministry of Education has noted that many teachers in Guyana’s local education sector have been neglecting their duties to educate and inspire students, and some have even displayed an outright lack of patience and understanding that are pivotal in creating a conducive learning environment.

As such, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, says that the ministry is open to facilitating the transition of persons from this critical sector to jobs that they are more passionate about.
She made this statement at the launch of Whiz Kids on Friday last.

Since the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the education sector worldwide has taken a significant hit and has struggled to regain normalcy. Innovative solutions were conceptualized, including virtual teaching and rotation of class times to ensure children still have access to learning while the world adjusts to the new normal.

In Guyana, there is online learning, the restructuring of the Guyana Learning Channel, and the creation of worksheets. It was highlighted that the rollout of these innovative solutions is largely dependent on the willingness of teachers to rise to the call.
Minister Manickchand indicated that the ministry intends to have continuous evaluation to assess the preparedness of teachers, as well as to ensure that those persons in the profession have the necessary qualities to deal with budding minds.

She noted that even with the COVID-19 pandemic putting a strain on the education system, several current teachers have not been working to ensure that learners are not left at a disadvantage. She stated that since the new government was installed in August 2020, several initiatives have been put in place to ensure that learners have the best access to learning even with the COVID-19 guidelines being in place, but some teachers have not taken up the mantel to ensure that these initiatives are utilised.

Further, the Education Minister explained that many teachers are operating in a mode of “auto-pilot” where they are just coming to the job because they are being paid to and not because they want to be nurturers of the country’s future.

“We just completed the secondary school entrance examination mock exams and we have too many teachers who have not yet looked and analyzed the results to be able to determine where this class is weak so that they could reteach that topic, or where a particular student is having difficulty to say ‘come and sit at my desk, let’s do this until we get it right.’

“We cannot continue like that or else we will continue to routinely, robotically doing what we have to do and collecting a salary at the end of the month,” Minister Manickchand said.

In comparing the commitment of the teachers in the private and public schools, Minister Manickchand noted that learners in any government school have the ability and the resources to achieve an equal level of success as those who attend private schools, but she emphasised that this would only be possible if resources are mobilised by the teachers in the education sector.

“We see these remarks you’re seeing with only private schools doing well, we congratulate you on those successes but we will show you that we have the ability to reform, fix, manage, and produce from the public system; which means that teachers have to get on board and be willing to be assessed, evaluated, corrected or assisted in finding a career they like better that is not teaching,” the Education Minister expressed.

Meanwhile, the Education Minister also highlighted that many teachers across the country have gone “above and beyond” to ensure that learners are actively engaged during this time and, so, she encouraged them to continue putting in the work.

She saluted those who have tried relentlessly to learn the new online platforms and have distributed and utilised the ministry of education resources, as well as create innovative ideas to capture the attention of children.