Parents Fill in During Teacher Shortage

There is a problem of teacher shortage at some schools for multiple reasons. In some cases, the teachers have not met the Ministry of Education’s requirement of reaching a hundred and twenty hours of Continuous Professional Development to apply for a teacher’s license, or they have but the system has not yet processed their license. In other cases, teachers simply leave the profession and move on to teaching jobs closer to home or to greener pastures altogether. It has created a problem for schools that have multiple teachers missing and a multitude of students to teach. Because Maskall Village is situated several miles away from a major highway, the primary school there finds itself in this situation. News Five’s Marion Ali went back to Maskall Village which has a shortage of three teachers. Here’s that report.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

It’s the first day of school at Our Lady of Lourdes RC in Maskall Village. The children are excited to be back, but this year is not like previous years because there is a shortage of teachers at the institution. The nine teachers who are at school must do their best to ensure that the two hundred plus students in their custody receive optimum quality education, regardless of the deficiency. Principal Herman Ramirez says they’ll have to figure out.

 

Herman Ramirez, Principal, Our Lady of Lourdes RC Primary School

“We principals out here, we fill the vacuum, okay. Whenever a teacher is absent, whenever a teacher is missing, the principal takes on that role and goes into the classroom and does what the teacher should have been doing. In this case though, it’s quite different. We have a shortage of three staff – one at the preschool, which is very critical at this time because preschoolers normally – they give a little bit of trouble to settle down, and it requires more than just one teacher to be there. So, we’re short there, we’re short at standard two, and we’re short at standard five. So I’ll be moving between these classes to ensure that we have everything that we need in terms of resources, printing material, activity sheets for the children and so on, so that the teachers who are there assisting can find it easier.”

Kim Myers has three children attending classes at Our Lady of Lourdes. All three are affected by the teacher shortage and this means she’ll have to go the extra mile with her kids.

 

Kim Myers, Parent

“I usually check their school bag to see if any homework, then sit wa lee two hours with them to complete their homework and thing, so they could…”

 

Marion Ali

Now with the shortage, what yoh wa have to do you think?”

 

Kim Myers

“Well, I have to sit with them longer – be one to one with them.”

 

For Adrian Graham, he will also have to pinch hit as educator for his son who has entered Standard Two and has no homeroom teacher.

 

Adrian Graham, Parent

“There will be teachers substituting for other classes and you know, within that time, you’ll have to find work to give these kids and things to keep these kids minds occupied in that time and that’s where we as the parents would come in because maybe there’ll be times where they don’t have the time to teach the lessons in full and so us as parents, the communication that this school brings to me and my family is superb. So, you know, they keep us up to date on the WhatsApp, give us phone calls if needed and they tell us what type of homework should in case the kids don’t take it home, we know what homework are there to do, and they give us opportunities to, coach our kids as well. So, yes, I think it is a challenge for both the parents and the teachers. But then again, that’s a parent’s job and that’s a teacher’s job for us to come together to make sure our kids succeed.”

 

Earlier today, Minister Francis Fonseca explained that the Ministry of Education has processed the majority of certificates for teachers to get their licenses, so that should not be a problem for teachers who want to return to the classroom.

 

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“No teacher has been denied a license or rejected a license. What the ministry has always done is put the application on hold because teachers have to apply for their license and then contacted the teacher; to say how can I work with you? So those teachers who we have heard publicly taking about – they made a decision that they would resign or – it’s not the ministry has removed them or rejected them. The ministry is always prepared to work with individual teachers – how can we work with you on your records, on getting your requirements in place. We provide them with options and alternatives. We’re always prepared to do that.”

 

Principal Ramirez hopes that the problem will be solved soon.

 

Herman Ramirez

“We’re trying very hard to try and get teachers that will stay here in this community. Like I mentioned before, it’s very hard for anyone to venture out to Maskall and have to figure out how to live in and teach. And that is the part that’s becoming a little challenging. But up to date, we are hoping that we will have the vacancies filled within a couple of weeks, if not a month the very latest. We have candidates who have expressed the desire to get into the teaching field and they have other degrees in other areas. So we are going to try and see if we can move up and get the ministry to facilitate the process.”

 

Marion Ali for News Five.