Dear Editor,
The Chief Education Officer, Mr Olato Sam in a recent address to stakeholders in education is reported to have asserted that “…the weaknesses we see in the children are a reflection of our teachers’ failings.” This particular statement seems to reflect Mr Sam’s approach to dealing with issues which place the Ministry of Education in a less than favourable light.
I humbly suggest to Mr Sam that if he is serious about moving our education system to a standard of excellence, he needs to look below the surface, resist the urge to cast blame and examine the real issues impeding the educational development of the nation’s children.
A careful examination of the education sector would reveal that our teachers are not adequately trained to meet the educational needs of their charges. The institution tasked with this responsibility is understaffed and under resourced and the programme, woefully outdated. That, editor, is not a failure on the part of the teachers.
The curricula provided the teachers (by Mr Sam’s ministry, I might add) are not geared to promote optimum learning and appear to have been hastily dashed together by persons seriously deficient in curriculum development skills and with a minimal understanding of how children learn. The teachers did not write the curriculum.
Many of the textbooks, (commissioned by the Ministry of Education) are chock full of inaccuracies and typographical errors and fail to cover the required content. The teachers are not responsible for the writing of these books, or the poorly constructed national assessment exams, or the inexplicable rubrics employed in the grading of some of these exams.
The majority of classrooms, particularly along the densely populated coast still house a ratio of 40 or 50 students to a single inadequately trained, underpaid, underequipped teacher who is forced to work in a poorly lit and poorly ventilated classroom. The construction of proper teaching facilities is not on the list of duties of the class teacher.
That this country somehow manages to compete with the rest of the Caribbean with regard to educational achievement is a testimony to the considerable dedication and unswerving efforts of our teachers. They should enjoy more expressions of commendation from their superiors.
I know for a certainty that the majority of teachers in Guyana are doing all they can and then some, to ensure that our children receive the educational foundation upon which to build their future
I respectfully charge Mr Sam and his team at the Ministry of Education to now do their part.
Yours faithfully,
Wil A Campbell
