Minister of Education Shaik Baksh said the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) will be expanding its quota for private school teachers and they will also be able to participate in the Continuous Professional Development programme offered by the National Centre for Education Resource Development (NCERD)
Baksh, addressing a forum of private teachers, said the ministry fully supports the development and expansion of private schools as they play a vital role in the effort to boost literacy, modernise education and strengthen tolerance, a press release from the ministry stated. Private school teachers’ participation in such programmes will ensure the achievement of “better learning outcomes” from students at private schools, who account for just over five per cent of the national student population from the pre-primary to the secondary school level. Baksh said too the ministry’s objective is to influence private schools to follow the curriculum used in public schools and achieve “an acceptable standard in education delivery.”
According to the minister, in public schools the Grade Two and Four Assessments are used as diagnostic tools to correct pupil’s weaknesses in literacy and numeracy and the intention is to have similar interventions at private schools. Baksh also noted the introduction of the National Grade Four Certificate, which will be implemented this year, aims to arrest pupils’ shortcomings in these two critical areas before they sit the National grade Six Assessment (NGSA). He also noted that at some time all pupils at the primary level from both private and public schools will have to pass the standard literacy and numeracy examinations in order to sit the NGSA.
Regarding the secondary level, the minister noted that though there have been encouraging improvements in Mathematics and satisfactory results in Science over the past three years, for Maths, the results are lower than in other sister CARICOM states. Fluctuation in the Science grades is due mainly to a shortage of teachers, he noted.
At the secondary level, it is estimated that there are 70 university graduates in Mathematics and the Sciences, 80 from CPCE and 25 from the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Examinations. It is due to these circumstances, Baksh explained, that government has taken a decision to recruit overseas teachers. He said government has to take innovative steps resolve this issue, while noting the need to improve remuneration and working conditions of local teachers.
According to the release, the ministry, through NCERD, has been taking steps to address the teacher shortage in the two subject areas, including introducing an 18-month distance education programme for Math and Science teachers who are not university graduates. The first batch of 15 Math teachers graduated last year and 44 are currently enrolled. Thirty teachers are pursuing the Science programme and are expected to graduate at year end.
Students are also provided with textbooks recommended by the Caribbean Examinations Council and model solutions to past CXC exam papers, CXC in Focus DVDs covering 60 modules of the CXC Mathematics syllabus and upgrading workshops are being held for teachers, particularly those at the low performing schools. The ministry aims to have at least 50% graduates in the system through the UG/CPCE Associate Degree in Education Programme, the release said.
