The country’s education system is grappling with a lack of Bahamian instructors qualified to teach in “critical” subjects like Math, English and sciences, former Minister of Education Desmond Bannister said yesterday.
Bannister added that the government school system is entrenched in bureaucracy making it difficult for officials to remove a few unqualified instructors from the system.
The senator’s comments came a day after the Ministry of Education released the results of the 2012 Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) and Bahamas Junior Certificate (BJC) exams.
According to a report prepared by the Ministry of Education on the BGCSE results, students sitting the exams received an average letter grade of D in English Language and E+ in Mathematics. The two subjects were among 19 that saw an improvement in results from last year.
Bannister said in spite of the average scores for Math and English, BGCSE results have improved year-over-year for the past three years. Still, he conceded that the results show that students are struggling with core areas like numeracy and literacy.
He said while there is a shortage of Bahamian teachers qualified to teach subjects like Math, English and the sciences, there is a disproportionate number of teachers specializing in general or religious studies.
Source: The Nassau Guardian
