Hiring overseas teachers -Formal decision after discussions with TSC – President Jagdeo

TIMES INT'L

Last Friday, February 18th, President Bharrat Jagdeo stated that Cabinet’s initiative to recruit graduate teachers from overseas, to supplement national demand mainly in the areas of science and mathematics, will not be final until after discussions are held between the government and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC).

The president’s statement was in response to questions about whether the decision to recruit foreign teachers has been finalised.

On February17, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, at his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the President, confirmed Cabinet’s approval for government to proceed in this regard.

According to Dr Luncheon, “the national production is not keeping apace with demand; and while we are waiting for the ramped up production to realise adequate numbers, we still have to deal with the current situation, and this is why Cabinet was asked to revisit the earlier model of recruiting teachers from overseas.” He said that overseas recruitment of specialist skills has been a time-tested intervention when government was confronted with shortages, whether as a result of outward migration or increased demand. However, Dr Luncheon believes that the need for recruitment of overseas teachers is driven by demand resulting not only from outward migration, but increase in the number of children attending primary and secondary schools.

He added that Guyanese have also realised that there is no future without an education, and science and technology provide certainty of employment and a good future.

Dr Luncheon further explained that the recruitment model now being considered will be somewhat different from the one that allows for foreign teachers to be recruited independently through the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), since it is an earlier model in which teachers were recruited primarily from the Indian sub-continent to teach in Guyana, with the option of taking up permanent residence and becoming Guyanese citizens.

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