The government, it seems, is finally biting the bullet. We’re importing teachers to teach maths and science because we do not have enough of our own. Education Minister Shaik Baksh himself has now said that Guyana is flat on its face as far as maths and science teachers are concerned. We knew that much years ago, Minister. We have seen the CXC returns.
The Minister has persistently spoken his mind on the proliferation of the ‘extra lessons.’ It has, however, been unable to persuade parents that as far as maths, science and some other subjects are concerned, that is not the way to go. For years, the state school system has offered no viable alternative. Our secondary schools cannot provide the quality of tuition that would offer our students a reasonable chance of excelling in mathematics and the sciences at the CXC examination. After an unending interlude of prevarication Shaik Baksh has finally conceded this.
What we are yet to be told, of course, is whether the government is prepared to make the attendant investment in science laboratories for schools since even the most accomplished teachers will find themselves unable to deliver effectively if they are required to work with the existing run-down (and in some cases non-existent) science laboratories even in our top secondary schools. There are other issues too. Exactly what are the conditions under which these imported teachers are being brought here and are we to rely on these imports ad infinitum or is there a programme in place or being put in place – perhaps a ten-year programme – to ensure that we can boost our own home-grown teaching resources for mathematics and the sciences?
Again we return to the issue of what our own teachers are worth to us. The fact is that teachers migrate because migration offers better financial prospects and unless we make that all-important decision to pay our teachers more we will never be able to attract the best and the brightest – in maths, sciences or any other discipline – into the profession.
