Some concerns with the Education Revolution

31.JULY.08

Editor: There are some issues that are affecting our Education Revolution that I will like to concentrate on, with the hope that the Chief and P S in Education / the Minister of Finance can consider executing some.{{more}}

The Bridging Program is an excellent idea. If this program is to help poor readers, the Ministry needs to use the reading scores from the reading test conducted to group students according to their reading levels; get the reading specialists in the curriculum unit to organize materials for the different levels. It is useless copying materials from a text book to teach these students.

There is too much long talk on Early Childhood Education by the Ministry of Education / Finance. We have nine (9) teachers who graduated with B. Ed degree in Early Childhood Education from UWI- St. Augustine.

Why not divide the primary and pre- schools into zones, appoint these teachers as Graduates (Grade 9), and have them supervise, conduct workshops, and impart their training to Kindergarten and Pre-school teachers to improve Early Childhood Education in SVG? No, the Ministry of Education prefers to have them in their individual schools, some two in one school, and the other students suffering. Does the Ministry have their own personnel in training to manage Early Childhood Education? Get serious with our young minds. Don’t wait until these teachers migrate; utilize their skills and avoid brain drain. Do something positive now.

A new school year will begin in September, and the Ministry of Education will be directing the Services Commission to transfer certain teachers. Let us hope that these transfers are justified and that they are not done to satisfy certain principals or the Ministry’s officials who agonize teachers. It is alleged that a certain Education Officer is planning to “shake up” a particular staff. Why not organize a meeting with the principal and staff to investigate the problem?

A Concerned Teacher