Dear Editor,
For 2024, an allocation of $135.2 billion has been set aside for the education sector from the national budget with $3 billion going towards the purchase of textbooks and $2.7 billion for training and development.
This 2024 allocation is significantly more than the approximately $105 billion spent by the sector in 2023 to aid its development. Notable progress has been made and the sector continues to evolve and improve due to the tremendous resources being pumped into it and the vision and dedication of all stakeholders. However, at the unit level (individual school) there are often unfulfilled needs that could easily be realised but possibly due to ineffective communication channels and poor management and deployment of resources by the relevant officials, both students and educators are stagnated.
Every year, considerable sums are set aside to purchase textbooks for the students therefore, it is expected that at the secondary level if a particular subject is being done that requires textbooks, then these should be provided; at least a class set. At Annandale Secondary School there is the need for Spanish textbooks, 30 books for each level of the Dime series. For many years, students at this school have been doing Spanish without access to textbooks. The quality of the lessons and student engagement are affected since numerous exercises involve illustrations which they cannot view and precious time is consumed with writing notes on the chalkboard.
On several occasions I highlighted this situation to education officials but there has been no progress. I even contacted the Ministry of Education Book Distribution Unit in early March and was told that they have the textbooks and will deliver to the school. This ‘promise’ is yet to be fulfilled.
Editor, teachers’ training is another vexatious issue. Every term education officials visit the school to check teachers’ records and manner of teaching. Often, they are dissatisfied with the way in which records are completed or the quality of work on display but what assistance is being provided to obtain what is desired? Teachers who were appointed to various positions this year and the previous haven’t been invited to an orientation/ training session as yet. The duties of teachers differ depending on the position/ status they hold. Some are tasked with more administrative duties that encompass the preparation and completion of various documents. A teacher who moves from one category to the next needs mentoring/ training to become familiarised with his/her new role and responsibilities. The Ministry of Education is expected to provide such training since little to no mentoring is offered in the highly competitive school environment. When will this be done?
Yours faithfully,
Narissa Deokarran
