During the two-month vacation the Ministry of Education made a decision to transfer teachers to new schools. The ministry did so without first communicating its final decision to school principals or teachers. The education ministry is doing this staff-reconfiguring under the assumption that schools are overstaffed. But when student/teacher ratios are examined, the ministry's opinion is found to be not factual.
This overnight decision was unprofessional. It infringed on protocols of professional courtesy. It threw principals and educators into a tailspin, with them now rushing to redo teaching allocations.
Staff timetabling involves many weeks of careful planning. Today principals and teachers are going to have to console pupils over the sudden loss of their teachers. The education ministry ought to know that students make emotional connections with their teachers. Education isn't a robotic experience.That the education ministry failed as usual to communicate its intention to school principals and teachers, doesn't help to improve education in general, nor specific education of boys.
Why did the ministry implement their decision at the ninth hour before the reopening of school? This leads to suspicion behind the education ministry's motives. Again, the sudden decision to pull staff upset the fluid start to the school year. It gave principals and teachers no time to plan for the process. No time to communicate changes to students. It gave teachers no time to close off work programmes with students. And no time to transfer their work progress with students to replacement teachers.Some affected teachers would have been preparing Form Four and Lower Six students for 2015 exam finals. Thus, this abrupt severing of educators from schools does not auger well as a professional standard for education.
Sarah Parks,
via e-mail