Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has made an urgent call for a complete overhaul of the education system within the region beginning with the “re-tooling and re-training” of some teachers.
Dr. Gonsalves, who was the featured speaker at the 12th annual Dr. Alister Francis Memorial Lecture on Monday night in Antigua, said that the education system, particularly at the primary level needs to be revamped with more emphasis placed on quality teaching and quality leadership in the schools.
“A conversation has to start, as a matter of urgency, with all the stakeholders, to see those teachers who are assessed (as not being) quality teachers, how we can retool them. And if they are not interested in retooling … arrangements should be made to have them exit the teaching profession and do some other things,” Dr. Gonsalves said.
He stated about 18 to 20 per cent of recurrent expenditure in the region is spent on education and there is a serious problem with the outcome.
“I have never been able to understand how a primary school teacher can have a child for seven years, from age five to 7, a normal child not afflicted by any learning disability, but when that child finishes primary school he or she cannot read, write, or count, with a level of proficiency to allow them to pursue secondary education without remedial work,” Dr. Gonsalves is quoted as saying in a report by the Antigua Observer.
