Fix teacher-student ratio
Published:Tuesday | February 23, 2010 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
IF YOUR reporters are accurate in their reporting of teacher-pupil ratio guidelines set by the Ministry of Education, we have come upon yet another reason why most of our children are not achieving. A ratio of 35:1 at the primary level is outrageous.
And the ministry's guideline for secondary schools is set at 25:1. Talk about getting things twisted. It is no wonder primary school children in other CARICOM states are better prepared and outperform our children. Teacher-pupil ratio in other states reads like this, Trinidad and Tobago 17.5:1, Barbados 15.1:1, Grenada 17.6:1, St Lucia 24.6:1, and St Vincent and the Grenadines 17.9:1 (
nationmaster.com
).
The billions of dollars being spent on an Inspectorate and other so-called transformative programmes should be shelved and resources diverted to 'fixing' learning conditions throughout our primary schools. Transformation should be about optimising learning and not adding additional layers to an already inefficient bureaucracy.
I am, etc.,
Dr Richard Kitson-Walters