Dear Editor,
There is a very worrying situation within the education sector that needs highlighting and hopefully addressed. I recently visited a hinterland community and spoke to elders in the village who reported that there is a vast shortage of teachers due to a Ministry of Education (MOE) mandate that untrained teachers need to attend Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) to become qualified. While the initiative of qualifying teachers is commendable, it is the present method being implemented that is causing problems.
At this particular school more than seven teachers – over half the staff – were taken out of the school and sent to CPCE to study. A few of the teachers who remained behind have online studies and requested time off from their teaching to attend their classes. No replacements were made at the school for the departed teachers. The end result of the MOE policy is a school that is very short on teachers resulting in inadequate teaching to the children and an overburdened teaching staff on the few teachers who remained at the school.
I am not certain if this situation is countrywide or just at hinterland schools. But it is having a detrimental effect on the most vulnerable of society. A few years ago CPCE was decentralized so that teachers did not have to leave their schools. Is that no longer in effect? If so, why was it scrapped?
Whatever the reason, no school should be so severely depleted of teachers without adequate mechanisms in place for suitable alternatives so that our children’s education are not affected.
In its present model of upgrading teachers, the MOE is making our children’s education collateral damage. And this needs to change! Here’s hoping that this letter catches the eye of those in authority and that something is urgently done to remedy this problem.
Sincerely,
(Name and Address Withheld)