Chandarpal said there is evidence of fewer people going into those fields at the university level; fields which she identified as “needed for national development”. She raised the issue as a concern on Friday last when education officials appeared before the committee, and questioned what the ministry intends do to attract more young people into those fields.
Chief Education Officer (ag) Roopnarine Tiwari, in a response, referred to it as “a chicken and egg issue”. He said that a lack of science/technology teachers translates into a limited number of graduates at the secondary level, but insisted that the ministry is addressing the issue and that some initiatives are in place to bring about a change.
Tiwari said teachers who are interested in pursuing either subject area at the University of Guyana (UG) are given a waiver in that they are required to have the two-year teaching experience applying to UG. Secondly, he said the minister is granting scholarships to those interested. According to Tiwari, this is part of a recent education policy.
Tiwari said too that an 18-month distance programme for non-graduate science teachers is being executed to encourage growth and development in those two fields.
Still on the issue, Chief Planning Officer Evelyn Hamilton said the sector is currently testing a project called, ‘Connecting Classrooms ’, which is being piloted in some 20 schools, but the lessons are only in English and Mathematics. In another few months the lessons would be available online and in other subjects, she said, noting that this is aimed at offering the subject to more secondary students.
Hamilton also opined that there is a need for the separate sciences (physics, chemistry and biology) to be taught much earlier in school. “They need to start doing the separate sciences in schools early… integrated science is not enough,” she said, noting that it would impact on the number of students who are graduating with science/technology. However, she said the ministry would have to upgrade schools and build more laboratories in schools among other critical upgrades.
Committee members Amna Ally of the PNCR-1G and Latchmin Punalall of the AFC raised the issue of welfare officers in schools saying it was clear from recent reports that this was a problem in the system. Ally said she was not sure whether the welfare officers are doing in work in the fields based on personal groundwork, while Punalall pointed to the Neesa Gopaul case as a clear case of workers being absent from the system.
Tiwari said that welfare officers are on staff and are working. He said they have strong links with the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security. He said they have 33 members in the welfare division, noting that Region Eight remains the only area where they are not attracting welfare officers.
Tiwari also made a declaration during the presentation that there was “no violence in schools”. He was firm on this, insisting that there have been a few instances of indiscipline. “They may have been an act or two committed by students, but sometimes not even in the schools,” he said. His statements came after the Chairman, Chandarpal and committee member, Ally raised the issue.
Ally said she is not sure of a high percentage of reported cases, but insisted that there is violence in schools. She said inadequate staffing may be part of the reason why. “I want to know if this is a factor, how soon we are we going to address the issue of inadequate staffing”
Chandarpal also touched on the attitudes of school-aged children saying, “We have too much rude young people around”. She questioned what the ministry was doing about this, adding that it also calls for efforts across the board. However, she said the ministry should consider etiquette classes as part of the curriculum. This issue was not directly addressed by the panel from the ministry — it was pointed out that the invitation the ministry received did not speak to some of the specifics that would have been asked by the committee.
The panel was also not prepared to take a question on the successes to date of the sector’s strategic plan. Ally raised the question saying she was curious as to how well the plan has done so far. Hamilton attempted to answer it, but pointed out that a review is to be conducted next month.
Further, Chandarpal asked about universal prayers. Tiwari noted the universal prayers are not an issue because the prayers are universal except for the last two lines. According to him, teachers are advised not to include the last two lines when they are teaching the children the prayers. However, he noted that there are some religious private schools.
PNCR1-G MP Cheryl Sampson observed that since the ministry upped the qualifications for entry at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) a number of young people are barred from entering for the Associate Degree programme.
Tiwari responded that they are revising the decision to scrap the old training programme because many of the teachers in the system currently lack the requirements to apply for the Associate Degree.
