PNCR parliamentarian Amna Ally has called on the authorities to implement measures to improve the education system, making a renewed call for the authorities to release the annual subventions for the Critchlow Labour College.
As the 2010 budget debates continued in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Ally stated that while this year’s budget is the largest compared to previous budgets, it must yield quantitative results. Ally based her speech on value for money, stating that, “not everything must be done by politicizing,” for the education system to work.
She outlined several areas within the 2010 budget presented by Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh which she stated needed to be addressed. Among these was the National Strategic Plan, which was developed and implemented in 2008 by the Education Ministry. According to Ally, the area of curriculum guides, which is a policy of programmes with emphasis placed on the content and expected outcome of the programmes, needed to be addressed by Education Minister Sheik Baksh. She said that while the administration boasts of constructing schools and other infrastructure across the country, the educational institutions have not seen quality education being produced.
Ally recalled a survey conducted by a UK-based agency in 2008 which found that in 6 of the 10 administrative regions, early grade students lacked basic comprehension skills among other findings. According to her, the Ministry of Education did nothing, to correct the situation. She said the performance of students in Mathematics and English, “is woefully poor”.
She said many schools are either overstaffed or understaffed and Georgetown has been doing rationalization for the past three years to address this issue. She also elaborated on the displacement of the functions of a unit called the Monitoring, Evaluation, Report and Development unit (MOERD) within the Education Ministry which she said was created a few years ago to improve output of the educational system. According to her the functions of the unit, which was carried out by the Inspectorate Division of the ministry, were taken over by the Office of the President and subsequently returned to the Inspectorate Unit. “Why was the Inspectorate unit scrapped?” Ally questioned.
As regards teachers and teacher development, Ally stated that the intake of first-year batch of students at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) boasts of “quantity and not quality”. According to her, the Education Ministry issued an ultimatum recently to untrained teachers to upgrade their educational status, or face being put out of the system. She said that some teachers who fit this category have been in the system for as long as 20 years but did not meet the entry requirement of CPCE and could not be trained.
“Someone advised the Minister of Education, I hope it’s not the Prime Minister, that a three months crash course in English and Mathematics would enable the untrained teachers to enter CPCE,” she said. The teachers have subsequently been accepted at CPCE but “are not coping,” and according to her, “the Education Minister seems to be perked up with large numbers.” She said the entry requirements at the institution need to be reviewed since “the government yields to lowering of standards,” resulting in the “end product” being substandard.
Ally also touched on the issue of subventions for the Critchlow Labour College, stating, “it is clear the government is disinterested in training people, young people and late achievers”. She renewed the call for the annual subvention to be returned to the institution, stating that it was taken away to fulfil political gains. She said the institution greatly assisted many over the years and was one “where many of you over there proudly attended,” looking at the government’s side of the House.
Ally also touched on technical/vocational institutions, stating that the Education Ministry had set aside money in the previous budget for the building/commissioning of technical institutions in Regions Three and Five, but to date only the sites have been identified. She said the ministry also “hurriedly” set up a Technical Vocational Council recently, which is chaired by a Trinidadian. She said the work of the council had been in limbo, as the council’s lifetime came to an end in late 2009 and was subsequently extended to March this year. She also stated that the authorities’ promise to make outstanding payments to part-time staff of the Government Technical Institute (GTI) must also go to their colleagues at CPCE.
PPP/C parliamentarian Bibi Shadick said she agreed that remuneration for lecturers should be comparable with other professionals. She also stated that the administration is working towards opening technical institutions in Regions Two, Three, Four, Six, Seven and Ten. Shadick said this initiative will commence following the completion of the technical institutions in Regions Three and Five, which Ally alluded to in her presentation.
PPP/C parliamentarian Norman Whittaker said that the administration has placed significant emphasis on improvement in the education sector. Speaking on behalf of Region One, Whittaker said that some 52.8% of the regional budget allocated for Region One was set aside for education in the region. Speaking on the issue of value for money, Whittaker said that the government has been able to see returns, adding that teacher’s training has resulted in improvements in classrooms, with new patterns and methods being utilized by teachers. “Quality and accountability of education are important variables,” Whittaker stated. He denied that there was a shortage of teachers in the Matakai sub-region of the North West District.
