A midst a shortage of staff at the Cyril Potter College of Education, in-service student Villon Parris was adjudged the “best graduating student” at that college’s convocation, on July 14 at the National Cultural Centre. Parris graduated from the secondary academic programme majoring in Mathematics. He gained the only distinction among 50 other male students and 465 females all together.
While there is still a need for more males to be trained and placed into the school system, only ten per cent of the graduating class of 2008-2011 were males.
Linden had a 100 per cent pass rate for teachers graduating out of that community. Persons graduating out of Anna Regina, Turkeyen, and the interior locations also performed exceptionally well during their stint at CPEC. Other top performers included Nalini Persaud, Adesia Cumberbatch, Narina Ramnarine, Kishana Persaud and Hannah Jaboo, who were among those awarded for their performances at the teacher training programme.
A section of the graduants at the graduation ceremony
Principal of CPCE, Debra Thomas, in her report pointed out that the college has been providing formal teacher training for the past 83 years. Thomas said she is looking forward to more improvements in the standard and quality of services provided by the institution. According to her, this will be advanced through the help of the Guyana Improving Teacher Education Project GITEP. This, she said, will allow the teacher’s college to perform dual roles of providing face-to- face and distance education programmes.
Additionally, it will help to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of training there.
Already, four of the current staff members at CPCE recently completed their Master’s in Education Degree MD programme at the University of Guyana (UG). This will help to boost the level of well-rounded and successful graduates coming out of the college.
New curriculums have also been developed at all levels of the teacher training programme, while the general requirement for entry into CPCE has been upgraded and maintained.
Thomas said that despite these avenues having been created for establishing better standards and quality at CPCE, there are several challenges the institution faces. The most major of these challenges, she noted, is inadequate staffing at the college, which has declined over the past years. Despite having recruited five additional staff members during the course of last year, there is still a marginal shortage of staff members. This, she said, continues to affect the overall performance of the institution. The principal said, “The lecturers continue to do miracles” by filling the gap.
He called on the graduants to do their best in delivering quality education and creating an impact on the lives of each and every child that is placed in their hands and under their responsibility.
On encouraging the graduants, he explained that the Education Ministry will be embarking on a teacher reform project.
This, he stated, will bring about the necessary changes and development that are seriously needed to transform the education system.
Baksh went on to explain that, already, through the GITEP, the system of teaching will be enhanced over the next few years.
Baksh said “teachers are architects of social change”, pointing out that each teacher has an important role to play. He also pointed to the establishment of the parenting conference, the re-establishment of the National Teachers Award Programme, and the GITEP project as all means of helping to improve the education sector and the lives of teachers in general.
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