-Baksh
Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh yesterday announced that the hosting of extra lessons on the premises of public schools will soon be prohibited.
At a special meeting with parents of students who attend schools in the North-East Georgetown Educational District, he told the gathering: “I intend to place a ban on any extra lessons in the schools”. The Minister was responding to a question posed by a parent who queried the Ministry’s stance on extra lessons.
Baksh stated that the Ministry intended to implement this decision shortly, and said that a circular will be sent out next month to the different schools in the country. The Minister explained that if the teachers wanted to hold extra lessons at other venues they were free to do this, but emphasised that the Ministry will no longer tolerate the hosting of the lessons at schools. He said that the “lessons syndrome is hitting the educational system hard” and expressed the belief that many of the teachers who offer extra lessons after school, often short-change their students during the normal school hours.
This announcement was greeted with a loud applause from the large gathering of parents present in the auditorium of the St. Joseph High School. Some were heard voicing open approval at the Minister’s statement.
Meanwhile, the Minister stated that from the 1st September 2009, the Ministry is hoping to have all of the Community High Schools transformed to Secondary schools. He also said that special resources would be dedicated to these schools in an attempt to improve the academic results of its students. According to Baksh, he feels that the best teachers should be sent to these schools but when it was suggested that some teachers from the Grade A and B schools be sent to these underachieving schools, the Guyana Teacher’s Union objected.
Meanwhile, Baksh also addressed the complaint raised by another parent that students were being seriously affected by teachers who were attending classes at the University of Guyana during school hours. He identified this as a major problem affecting schools and said that the Ministry was doing its best to address the issue. He explained that each school had a quota of teachers that could be allowed attend the University and urged the schools to stick to the agreed numbers. The Minister also said that the Ministry of Education had held discussions with officials from the University to see if the classes which comprised a large number of teachers as students could be shifted so that they began at 2 pm or later. He said that while the Ministry wanted better qualified teachers, this must not be to the detriment of their students.
When the matter of inadequate furniture being provided at schools was raised, Baksh said that this too was a major problem issue plaguing the school system. He said that the Ministry had spent all of the $25M allotted in the budget for this purpose. He explained that in addition to this money that was spent, there were five contractors who had built 500 additional units of furniture and said that the Food for the Poor had donated 200 more units. He, however, stated that the administration of the schools had to share some of the blame for the problems with furniture. According to him, during the last term the Planning Department sent out correspondence to the Head Teachers of the various schools asking them what was needed by the school for the new academic year. But only about 50% of the schools responded Baksh said. He told those gathered that if the Ministry is not informed, it will be unable to meet the needs of the schools.
This meeting with parents was the first of several such consultations which are slated to be held during this month as part of Education Month activities. (Mark McGowan)
The Minister failed to take into consideration, that during the normal school day the teacher has to deal with an intellectual cross section of students, some of whom may be intelletually challenged in some areas, and may be hampered from completing assignments, not by his or her choice. Hence, extra lesson, especially in Public Schools, may be a necessary end, for interested students, whose parents want them to have a productive future.
Do not implement change for change only. Extra Lessons, in schools, helped produce some of Guyana’s best scholars.There are bigger fish for you to fry Mr. Minister.
yes, i agree with you 100%,
Yes, extra lessons for “slow” learners are a good thing, but not on Government property after regular school hours. What are the legal implications to the teacher/Government if a student suffers an injury on school ground during these after school lessons?
Does the minister have teaching experience? Put him on a flat that houses 20 classes, each class should have no less than 35 children and the classes must be less than a metre away from each other. Let us see how much he will accomplish in one day.
yes extra lessons should be allowed but they should be free and there should be designated teachers and a lesson plan implemented by the school. right now the teachers are to busy doing their own classes at UG.
Clearly the Education Minister is right, if the Teachers are in the business of giving lessons, then the students shouldn’t have to pay, since the facilities are the government’s.
There is obviously a need for the Headmasters to be better managers and provide leadership. The Teachers that are themselves students should be going to night school and not impede the progress of our children.
So? Are we now going to have a new breed of under-performers?
Those after school lessons are an integral part of student culture.
It pushes and encourages them to do better and better;
I do not subscribe to the comment that teachers in the regular school
day short-teach the kids only to complement tha with a full lesson
later. Lots of students take time to absorb and after school leesons
bridge that gap for them.
30 kids @ $4000. a month =$120,000. a month how much is declared to the inland revenue dept. and taxed.??.
pay as you earn.
please lets have your comments.
no we not going to have underachievers.we are going to have teachers paying for facilities to cary on thier lessons.
CV just an fyi, many teachers used to get same if not better results at the exam without extra lessons. Wanna know why? They were teachers, not just mere employees waiting for the month end paycheck. Moreover many of those who charge for extra lessons, laze around during the day just marking books so the kids are forced to attend extra lessons if they want to pass the exam.
I was strongly voicing my opinions on this matter ” scam” recently when in Guyana. I had heated arguments when a girl child travels home late in the nights after lessons. They, the students kept insisting that their ” Sirs” told them these extra lessons were the only way they could pass their exams. And I kept repeating, “..don’t you all see it is moneymaking? They deliberately short your education in the classroom and teaching you the most important things only on extra lessons”. They really don’t give a damn if girl students have to travel from the city to the east coast or east bank reaching home late in the nights, sometimes walking a long lonely journey from where the bus puts them off. Initially, the teachers will win the parents consent by allowing the first three illegal extra classes to start and end early. But after that they quickly changed it to start and end late and you find yourself frantically cellphoning your child every minute until they reached home. In my later college years here in the US, everything was taught in the classroom. After I graduated from college I filled in for one year as a substitute teacher and was given a stern curriculum that must be followed. No deviation. Period. Time and again you had “plants’ from the government body that sits in on a class just to see if you’re following the curriculum. Now you can see where the head of this problem stems from. The Ministry of Education in Guyana, of course.
Steel you have made some excellent points.
Now what if the extra lessons are nearby?
Should they still be given?
Solve the problem by evaluating the students prior to placing them in a form;then place them based on this evaluation. An example would be students passing the evaluation exam with a grade of 80% and higher would be in”A section and those scoring lower would be in “B section” of the same grade. In essence you would have two classes for the same grade. When I was in primary school in the early xx’s(lol…In not going to give my appromixate age away) there were students classified “dumb”. They were not; they were only slow learners. As a matter of fact I met two of those “slowlearners” in New York eight years ago. One was the head of surgery in a leading NY hospital and the other was a CPA. What I am talking about (evaluation and placement) is currently practised in most developed countries. You may argue that Guyana does not have the capacity to implement this tatic because of a capacity problem. Then do this: have the 80% students attend a first session-say 8-11 with lots of home work. The slower students from 12-4;hence eliminating the need for extra lessons on Government property. The benifit too, would be that there would be no 90% student in the class room to laugh at the slow learners, and no teacher to classify the student a a “dullard” as is so often done in the Guyanese classroom. I say no more.
Good start at eliminating the extra lessons in school syndrome. When will he announce the elimination of the latrine pit syndrome?
I agree with you on this.
When I was in Guyana (early 90’s) I wasn’t aware of extra lesson in school but went to after school lessons where I lived (ENMORE). Myself along with tons of other students, some from Annandale and Cove and John all attended these after school lessons. We had to pay however; it was more than worth it. When I started high school in Canada the math over here was like nursery school math.
So I agree that extra lesson goes a long way to enrich the lives of students.
In my Old School…….Indians Educational Trust College, my class of 76 had so much of late starters. .. The extra lessons in the afternoon is what pushed us up all. Our results at the G.C.E. (o) levels were phenominal!! 85% of the students over 10 subjects …………..
In our time we paid the teachers……..
Well vigilized, don’t see why the (late starters) shoudn’t be given a chance…………
if the teachers are getting paid for these extra lessons.then the teachers must pay the government for usage.simple as 1 2 3 .then see how fast those extra lessons will drop like flies.
Steel, I agree with you. The teachers do not teach all of what they schould and save some for the “extra lessons” or they would have nothing else to teach. Homework help and extra help with school work taught but not fully understood is understandable. Most teachers do not give the slow learners any additional help unless they are being paid cash for “extra lessons.”
I have experienced this myself as a child attending school in GT.
evileyes,
Please Brother!! What salary do you thinks a “poor” Teacher gets’? A miserable one………Which can’t maintain them for a month…….
So if they do a little extra work for their passage. Why they have to pay the govt.?
In developed countries, in 2 years you can own a Little Home and a Car…
In my DEAR land of GUYANA..You have to WORK your Lifetime to GAIN the SAME.
Sorry if i’m wrong…..
Arnold.
I am sick and tired of hearing how all these people are working for peanuts.dont teachers know what their salaries are b4 taking the job?ever time these culprits get caught doing wrong they and their cohorts cy-low wages.then get a higher paying job and stop ripping poor people off.
so you’re saying that if postal workers don’t get paid well they should hold onto your mail and make you come to the post office after hours and pay more for it.