Dear Editor,
I welcome any healthy discussion about the state of education in Guyana and how we can collectively improve same. I intentionally did not respond to the first article written about my presentation or the response from the Guyana Teachers Union President, despite the fact that my statements were wholly taken out of context. The Stabroek News editorial of Tuesday, September 22, 2015 has now built an argument on the flawed premise and has taken it all to a rather dangerous extreme; now forcing me to make some vital points of clarification.
Firstly, the occasion was a gathering of primary school heads, to discuss the importance of leadership in improving our output in the education system. As such, I highlighted areas that I am convinced officers and heads could collectively address to arrive at our stated objectives. I prefaced my statements by highlighting the fact that we have conducted investigations into the elements that contribute to the underachievement of our primary pupils and we have uncovered what I termed a “staggering mosaic of contributory factors”. At no point did I attempt to, overtly or implicitly, place the blame at the feet of the nation’s teachers.
I then proceeded to list some of those factors which in my opinion we can address collectively. I then made the statement that has now been taken out of context and is now being used to further individual agendas; that of our educators’ ability to deliver the expected content knowledge. I stated that “many of the weaknesses our pupils possess are mere reflections of their teachers’ failings.” I then emphasized the point that as a ministry we must embark on widespread capacity-building exercises to improve teacher competence. I then gave the example of a head of a primary school I had just visited in Region 9, who declared that the recently held Continuous Profes-sional Development courses were of tremendous benefit to her school since many of her teachers had significant gaps in relation to their knowledge of the literacy instructional programme. The emphasis was placed on the need for capacity building and not a stab at teachers.
It must be noted that the ministry has examined the mathematics curriculum along with teachers and asked them to identify the topic areas they did not feel as strongly in, and when those were juxtaposed against the item analysis of the students’ performance, the similarities were striking. My address to the same heads at the commencement of the 2014-2015 academic year highlighted this exact issue, with a request for all heads to openly examine the weaknesses our teachers possess and develop a continuous professional development plan specifically targeting those weaknesses. I emphasized the fact that our teachers do not emerge from CPCE as complete products and our schools should be seen as institutions of learning for both pupils and teachers. A number of years ago the Ministry of Education went to the extent of modifying its entry requirements to CPCE to accommodate thousands of in-service teachers who did not possess the basic qualifications for entry. Any casual discussion with lecturers in the Faculty of Education and Humanities at the University of Guyana would reveal widespread recognition of the fact that we have a great deal of work to do to assist our teachers in raising their basic content knowledge.
These are realities that we must face head-on and address with a structured consistent professional development agenda.
I further stated that we need to adopt a more student-centred ap-proach to teaching and learning and that the system needs a greater degree of accountability. All of which, I stated, would depend heavily on the degree of leadership demonstrated by the heads of the primary institutions. I ended my remarks by stating that our teachers are the ones who are the primary agents in nation building and it was my sincere hope that our heads could support our efforts in getting it right. At no time was there any attempt to “blame” teachers for the ills of the education system as the editorial and previous pronouncements suggest—an examination of my full presentation would support this. It is my position that, notwithstanding the other elements needing attention in the education system, tremendous em-phasis must be placed on the professional development of our teachers if we are to see greater output; and I stand firmly by this. I trust that this clarifies my position and that the misrepresentations will be corrected.
Yours faithfully,
Olato Sam
Chief Education Officer
