Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) President Mark Lyte is accusing Chief Education Officer (CEO) Olato Sam of attempting to pass the buck for the failings in the education system by blaming teachers for the inability of students to demonstrate basic competency at the end of their primary-level education.
Lyte told Stabroek News yesterday that the union was surprised that Sam mainly blamed teachers for the failings of students.
“We were taken aback that he laid blame mainly at the feet of teachers in relation to the fact that students are unable to display basic competency at the end of their primary school tenure,” he said.
At a seminar on Monday for heads of primary schools held at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, Sam claimed “many of the weaknesses we see in the children are a reflection of our teacher’s failings.”
Lyte said the GTU disagreed with this assertion, while noting that it believes the CEO is not addressing the main issues.
“There are numerous other factors which affect student performance; these include, challenges in the home environment as well as deplorable facilities in the school,” Lyte said.
He explained that teachers operate daily under poor conditions, with needed support seldom provided. As a result, he said to now name the teachers as the main reason for their students’ failings is unfair.
Most teachers in Guyana operate under strenuous conditions. They are forced to teach classes of 50 to 60 students from 9 am to 3 pm daily with no time allocated for the preparation of teaching material. Further, several schools in Guyana function with a lack of basic teaching materials and, in some cases, furniture. Often teachers are forced by circumstances to use their own time and money to prepare classroom aids and worksheets for their students.
Lyte said the GTU is of the view that the CEO is trying to take pressure off himself and put it on the teachers. As CEO, Sam has responsibility for the operations of the education system and must provide explanations for the test scores.
“If, as he said, investigations have found that educators’ inability to deliver the expected content is the main contributory factor then he is saying that the Cyril Potter College of Education is failing, the deficiency, therefore, lies in the institutions which is responsible for training the teachers,” Lyte said.
He added that when you blame the teachers, you must also blame the education management system, for which Sam is responsible.
“Are the education supervisors competent? Are they competently supervising the system?” he asked.
Lyte also noted that the CEO excluded the fact that learning institutions are not equipped for diversified teaching. Students of various competencies are often lumped together and a teacher is forced to identify and manage various learning issues without very little support.
Speaking at the ‘Educational Leaders as Agents of Change’ seminar on Monday, Sam said he was troubled by the overall output of the education system. Although indicators suggest that the system is improving, he noted that a vast majority of children are still underachieving and the benchmark for literacy at the primary level is not being attained by a significant number of the population.
