No incentives for qualified, hard-working teachers

THE EDITOR: In the teaching service, there are teachers who enter the service with the minimum requirements and retire with the same qualifications without trying to upgrade themselves and there are teachers who go as far as gaining their doctorate through hard work, making great sacrifices with their family and social life, just to be better teachers. It is sad to see the way the Minister of Education and Mr Clyde Permel, TTUTA President are treating these teachers. At my school, whenever there are extra-curricula activities, these hard-working teachers are the ones who organise the programme, whereas the first set of teachers mentioned here, just watch on, without giving any assistance.

Now these hard-working teachers with their masters and doctorate get the opportunity for a little promotion in the form of heads of department and deans, and the Teachers’ Union leader Mr Clyde Permel is blocking them from achieving these, although the teachers are in the union. The Ministry of Education had certain requirements for the posts of head of departments and deans and the teacher with the masters and doctorate has the qualifications but others who would strike or protest in a second without asking the reason do not have the qualifications so the interviews have been stopped, and the qualification lowered to help them. Is this progress? Why not take the highly qualified people for the job and let the people who are not qualified, seek to get the qualifications? This is the only way the teaching service can improve.

One wonders if TTUTA President Mr Clyde Permel or the Minister of Education are really serious about the education system in this country. A few years ago, teachers were interviewed for the posts from the Victoria and North Eastern districts and only the highly qualified teachers were interviewed and awaiting the results. Now, these same teachers are told that they have to go back to be interviewed because the qualification standard has been lowered. If it is lowered, these highly qualified teachers still have the requirement, so why do they have to be interviewed again? Something is definitely wrong with the people at the top in the Ministry of Education and TTUTA. The teachers who were interviewed already decided that they are not going to be interviewed again.

I did not apply for the post because there are more qualified teachers than I who deserve the promotion. We need highly qualified teachers at the top so we can progress. Some teachers are also frustrated and unmotivated to teach because after waiting for two years for the results of the interviews, they are told that they have to re-apply to be interviewed by the Teaching Service Commission. What is really going on in this country?

ROGER MATTHEWS
La Romaine