Dear Editor,
The response by the Ministry of Education (MOE) Public Relations Officer (‘No major overcrowding at any level in the public education system,’ SN, March 24) to the comments made by the General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers Union in a KN article in the March 19 edition has once again affirmed the views of many teachers and members of the GTU, that there is a great need for new leadership in the union. The union is certainly out of sync with the issues that are more pressing for teachers.
However this acceptance by the MOE that there are a few schools across the country, where some classrooms have a little more than their required quota of students, does not in any way debunk or refute the statement of the union. The maximum number of students per classroom at all levels needs to be reviewed. A random survey of teachers at all levels will support this view.
The urgent need for a review of class size in schools has its counterpart in the calls made for a review of class size and the curriculum in the school of nursing following the 85% failure rate of student nurses at their final examination recently.
What has our union been doing all this time? Couldn’t they have done their own statistical data gathering before making such a public pronouncement? Are these out-of-the-blue utterances by the union an attempt to give the impression that it is working for teachers, or is it a stunt by the incumbents to gain some publicity because of the GTU election? I believe teachers have more pressing issues that trump this one, important as it is, that they would like addressed.
I do commend the ministry for all they have accomplished thus far, but much more would have to be done to have a “comfortable teaching and learning-friendly environment.” This goes beyond having trained teachers, a limited number of students in the classroom and teacher training programmes.
With regard to this year’s budget, all teachers are impatiently awaiting to hear of the plans and vision the Minister has for education and its primary stakeholders. She had certainly transformed her previous ministry and we all await this ministry’s transformation.
Will the ministry aspire to use its statistical data-gathering personnel to garner the much needed information from the real grass roots in the actual school/classroom environment? Wouldn’t their input add tremendously to attaining a “comfortable teaching and learner-friendly environment”?
I guess time will reveal such.
Yours faithfully,
Jermaine Figueira
Chairman
Upper Demerara Branch GTU
