The Prime Minister must take the "unnecessary burden" off the Minister of Education and Attorney General, Alfred Sears, by relieving him of the office of Attorney General so he can focus on effectively improving the education system, said President of The Bahamas Union of Teachers, Kingsley Black on Monday.
"If they had listened to me from last year, by now, the looming leadership crisis in education would not have been a problem. Probably, if the Minister had only one focus, he would have been able to at least get Education right."
"He is struggling because no man can be two persons in two different places simultaneously. I take my hat off to him, because he is doing two full time jobs for one full time pay, but I don't understand why would a Minister take on such a load."
According to Mr. Black, colleagues of Minister Sears in the Caribbean are literally "awestruck" that the Attorney General is also the Minister of Education and he himself does not understand why Minister Sears is continuing to hold two positions. He said education is too important for the government to be "playing games" with it.
"If we are going to saddle the Minister of Education with the Ministry of Justice, we are not serious about education and we can't be critical of the quality, if we are not putting in the quality input," he said.
Up to press time on Monday, the Education Minister could not be reached for comment.
Meanwhile, shifting his focus on the teacher shortage problem, Mr. Black said even though some new teachers have joined the Ministry of Education this 2003/04 school year, the question of teacher shortage is a global phenomenon.
Mr. Black firstly pointed out that teachers are not well paid and therefore the Ministry is not attracting the best and the brightest to the profession.
"They are finding jobs that pay better and jobs where the stress level is lower and where working conditions are more amenable to a career in those jobs. Working conditions is not amenable to teachers accepting teaching as a career," Mr. Black said.
The BUT President further added that students who are best fit to become teachers, are finding options in other professions.
"Until we are able to improve the status of teachers so that teachers are viewed as professionals belonging to the profession of professions, they are paid a proper salary, they get subsidized health care and all of the other fringe benefits which make for longevity in a career, we are going to be faced with this problem of teacher shortage," Mr. Black said.
The BUT President also mentioned that no matter how hard the Ministry tries to recruit teachers from CARICOM countries and elsewhere, the Ministry is unable to fill the quota and will therefore have to grapple with the teacher shortage problem.
"We have not lost teachers because of migration, but because of attrition. Some have resigned, not because they are eligible for retirement, but because they are fed up with the system and have left, so we have this problem every single year."
There are presently some 3,350 teachers dispersed throughout the public education system. Some 154 teachers joined the Ministry of Education this 2003/04 school year of which 111 are Bahamians, 72 are replacement teachers for those who have resigned and retired and the College of The Bahamas has provided the Ministry with 52 teachers. The remaining teachers are Bahamians who have completed their studies in the Caribbean, United States and Canada and non-Bahamians from abroad. Seven of the 154 teachers are Cubans who have been hired to teach Special Education, Spanish, Technical Studies and Physical Education.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
