The upcoming teachers’ conference in Guyana will address sensitive issues

TIMES INT'L

Dear Editor,
This upcoming 36th biennial Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) conference is going to be most critical.
It will address some very burning issues, some of them not that comfortable at all – issues such as violence against teachers, increased wages, and marking of school based assessments will be foremost on the agenda.
The School Based Assessment (SBA) needs a lot of work. The idea is most wonderful, but its implementation, as of yet, leaves a lot to be desired.
I know of many teachers who charge a fee, and they make extra money like this. Many of our students choose this route, and there is no way to monitor a thing like basic honesty at this level. The SBA must be re-examined and its original intent must come back.
There is no place for attacks against teachers – not verbally and for sure not physically. This total want of respect must not characterise our students. I hear students referring to their teachers by all kinds of degrading names. Violence must not only be tackled from the outside. The battle starts with basic mannerisms.
When it comes to equating corporal punishment with a violation of children’s rights, I am not for it. Corporal punishment can be misused and teachers can indeed couch their evil tendencies by resorting to it. That is why we need to have consultations on how this form of punishment and discipline must be employed. We need to think about what acts of rebellion call for its use, who does the administering and how it should be done. It is a serious matter and we still have it hanging half-way.
About our teachers, the feeling is most mixed for me. We have very fine ones, but many are leaving the profession altogether.
I am very puzzled by this move. It is also a serious blow to the investment made by the government. We cannot excuse this defection by saying that they paid off their contracts.
When even a private school contracts a government trained teacher, it is not about paying back government. Nobody can really do that. To me, this is a very burning issue and it must be addressed.
Yours sincerely,
Schoolteacher, Name withheld by request

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