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radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
A shortage of teachers is crippling operations at primary schools and the Association of Denominational Boards warned thatintake of first-year students will be decreased if vacancies are not filled swiftly.
In an im mediate response, the Teaching Service Commission and Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly assured that they were working to fill the vacancies before the next academic year begins in September.
General Secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) Vijay Maharaj said teaching vacancies have not been filled since last year and heads of denominational education boards, which operate 70 per cent of the nation’s primary schools, have no choice but to lower first year intake.
Maharaj said there are 14 teacher vacancies to be filled in the SDMS schools. The SDMS manages 44 primary and five secondary schools and Maharaj said because of teacher shortages, there will be no places for 170 children.
“We have a severe shortage of first-year teachers. Normally we have 25 students to one teacher but because the vacancies have not been filled we have calculated that there will be just about 150 to 170 students who will not get placements in our schools,” he said.
President of the Association of Denominational Boards Sharon Mangaroo said an emergency meeting was held this week with representatives from all the denominational education boards.
She said in the 180 Roman Catholic primary schools there are 65 vacancies for teachers.
“Some teachers have died and others retired or resigned. These positions were never filled,” she said.
Accordng to Mangaroo, since July last year a list of names was submitted to the Teaching Service Commission but not a single vacancy was filled. She said the teacher shortage is having a negative impact as students are not getting proper supervision or individual attention in some schools.
She explained that the delays occurred because of a change in policy in which only online applications are being accepted.
Chair of the TSC Elizabeth Crouch said they are working to fill the vacancies before September.
“The Teaching Service Commission is committed to filling vacancies in a fair, transparent, accountable and timely manner. The Boards will have a full list of candidates to choose from before the start of the next academic year,” Crouch said.
Gadsby-Dolly said a meeting is scheduled with the TSC next week to discuss the vacancies.
“The recruitment of teachers is the responsibility of the TSC, which has delegated some functions to the Ministry of Education,” she said.
“The vacant positions in denominational schools were advertised in January 2023, applicants have been reviewed by the boards and the boards’ recommendations have been sent to the Ministry of Education and the TSC.
“The TSC is meeting with the Ministry of Education next week to review the interview process and, once approved, interviews will begin.”
Gadsby-Dolly said the boards were advised in January that as an interim measure they could choose suitable persons from the existing order of merit list to fill vacancies temporarily while the recruitment process is ongoing.
“The order of merit listing is of persons who have been successfully recruited for teaching and are waiting to be placed at schools. That option is still available to the boards,” she said.