Parents call for more teachers at Whim Nursery

…expressed frustration over teacher shortage

Parents of children attending the Whim Nursery School are calling on the Education Ministry to put mechanisms in place for the school to have its full complement of teachers.
The school has suffered from a shortage of teachers for more than one year and parents are saying enough is enough.
The school has been without its full complement of teachers since September 2016. The headteacher has reportedly been filling in the gap for one year. The parents say they were expecting things to change as from this school year.
Jeney Sookraj, who is the mother of a first-year child attending the school, told Guyana Times that there is a need for another teacher for the first-year students. “Because the head teacher can’t teach year-one and then run the school when she also has to attend meetings, and she also has her work to do so the children can’t learn nothing.”
She added that the development of the children depends on how much work the teacher puts in with them. “We try at home but they need the teacher. If they can get the new teacher as from Monday it would be good.”
Sookraj said before school was reopened, they were told that the Ministry would have sent a teacher to the school for the new school term. They were later told by the headteacher that the teacher was due to arrive after the first week.
The school had 77 children; with 36 being in the first year, which has two classes but only one class has a permanent teacher.
Another parent, Malissa Seepersaud, is also of the opinion that the school cannot function efficiently with the current shortage. According to her, the class with a permanent teacher will eventually have students that are behind in the curriculum. “The headteacher told us that the Ministry will send a teacher, but up to now, none. It is three weeks in this school year. We are urging them to have a teacher sent to the school.”
Officials at the school said they could not comment on the issue for fear of victimisation. Guyana Times was informed that the Teaching Service Commission is aware of the situation.