THE COMPROMISE of the recruitment process for primary school teachers is a disturbing development. It places a duty on the Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly-led Ministry of Education and the Elizabeth Crouch-led Teaching Service Commission (TSC) to account. Officials must come clean.
Initial reports are embarrassing.
Interviews conducted in July by the ministry are to be redone in August and September by the commission. There have been differing reports as to why.
Martin Lum Kin, the TT Unified Teachers' Association (TTUTA) president, said he was told the rescheduling reflected a desire to upgrade staff. It has since emerged, in fact, that questions asked during the interviews were unscrupulously shared.
At a time when examination scripts leak regularly, this is despairing. When Miss and Sir cheat there is no hope. We need to know the extent of the leak and sanctions should be applied.
What's clear is this affair is but the latest setback in efforts at recruitment reform by the ministry and the commission.
In 2021, the TSC abolished unsolicited applications.
In 2023, a newfangled process for government-assisted schools involving advertisement, an online platform, and liaising with boards saw more than 8,000 fresh applications.
Yet, it would seem only 77 trained teachers were appointed to the post of Teacher I on a temporary basis by that year's end, though the TSC also indicated a pool of candidates were on a 'priority list,' according to a bulletin. In that same year, there were just 933 appointments and confirmations generally, while there were 2,664 temporary and acting appointments, according to TSC figures.
The interview fiasco has led stakeholders to fear, yet again, a looming crisis.
'Come September, not only will there be no new teachers to put in government schools, but in denominational schools as well,' warned Vickram Ramlal, chairman of the Presbyterian Primary School Board.
All of this is on top of an already compromised situation.
Stakeholders say more and more classes are being merged. More teaching positions are held by administrators. More vacancies left from retirement, resignation or death remain unfilled. Almost half of primary school principals are acting. Teachers are forced to do more after-school classes. Short-term contracts are increasing.
Whether TSC inefficiency is due to the sheer volume of applications to be processed relative to resources or not, matters are made worse by a convoluted system, the fruit of the decades-old Concordat, which sees several cooks in the kitchen: boards, the ministry and the commission itself.
This unsustainable arrangement is not only unwieldy, but it also allows each stakeholder to pass the buck, as we have seen this week with the ministry having to cover for the TSC while it continues its interminable process in deafening silence.
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