Passion for teaching fuels Stephanie Sears’ drive in COVID times

Education Month 2020

By Lakhram Bhagirat

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has forced everyone to reimagine the way they do things, with the education sector being one of those where nearly every aspect had to be readjusted. The delivery of education, particularly in the nursery and primary arenas, is one primarily based on face-to-face interactions.
Students learn best when their interest is piqued and face-to-face interactions have the uncanny ability to spark interest. However, change is inevitable and now most classrooms are online.

In Guyana, the infrastructure for online learning is one that leaves much to be desired, but that is not stopping the teachers. They are creating ingenious ways of keeping their students occupied even if that means going above and beyond their means.
If someone had told Stephanie Sears a few years ago that she would have been spending her time preparing worksheets and teaching her Grade Six students from a radio station then she may have laughed in their face. Even she is somewhat surprised that this is now her life; nevertheless, she is not complaining.
The 22-year-old Aishalton Primary School teacher never envisioned a career in the education sector, but now she could not think of being anywhere else. She cherishes the time she spends in front of her classroom imparting knowledge to her students.
The young teacher related that she initially wanted a career in the medical field, but happened to fall in love with teaching during her time volunteering at the Aishalton Primary School.
Sears attended the same Primary School she is teaching at today, and after sitting the National Grade Sic Assessment (NGSA), she was awarded a place at President’s College in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica). Attending that school meant that she would have had to move away from her family in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region, but at that time her parents were going through a rough patch, so she attended Aishalton Secondary instead of the school awarded to her.
After she finished her secondary education, Sears was often asked to teach at the primary school in her village, but would usually refuse. However, when she was 17 years old, she was asked to volunteer at the school, since there was a severe shortage of teachers.
“The school was short of staff so they were asking for volunteers to go into the school and assist with the classes that didn’t had a teacher. So, my colleague and I, we went and I was placed in the class of Grade Five and the first two weeks of teaching I kinda liked it and I decided to give it a shot and since then I have been enjoying every part of it,” she said.
Now she is a trained teacher, having graduated from the Cyril Potter College of Education in 2019.
Now that she is in her fifth year as a teacher, the landscape has drastically changed for Sears and her colleagues. They would have already been somewhat disadvantaged because of the location of the school, but now they are even more disadvantaged.
While on Guyana’s coastland access to the Internet is readily available as well as electronic devices to support e-learning, it is not the same in the hinterland regions. Nevertheless, the teachers there are becoming innovative and making sure their students remain engaged.
When Guyana recorded its first COVID-19 case and the Health Ministry implemented measures to combat the spread, schools were closed and face-to-face learning discontinued. This had serious implications on students, particularly those sitting the NGSA and being a Grade Six teacher forced Sears to reevaluate and reinvent.
“The COVID-19 caused a drop back due to the lack of completion of the syllabus for the Grade Six. At that time, we only had about a month and couple weeks more before they were able to write their National Grade Six Assessment, so before that (COVID-19 measures), we were practising on a lot of past papers and worksheets and working on their weak areas to prepare them for the exam.
“So when the pandemic came and the Ministry had all schools closed, we couldn’t continue on that speed we were going, so it slowed things up a lot. We had like two weeks break where nothing was going on at that time,” she recounted.
Knowing that if the children were left unengaged they would fall back on the progress already made, Sears was prompted to look for avenues to keep them occupied. She took the bold step to approach Radio Aishalton for a space to broadcast lessons for the Grade Six classes. That was granted so every Friday she would be in studio teaching Grade Six students.
“At that time, the Ministry sent out some booklets for the children. So, every Friday, I would go on the radio and have a lesson with the Grade Six children and I would have received feedback from them how the lessons went and how they have performed. I did that until the last Friday before they wrote their National Grade Six Assessment and that is the only way I could have gotten work to be done because we were not allowed to see the children although in Aishalton we didn’t had any COVID-19 cases. We still had to take precautions and the necessary measures,” Sears said.
After her students sat their Grade Six exams in July, Sears did not stop her engagements. Instead, she met with the Head Teacher at her school and the Grade Five teachers and they discussed a way forward. They began engaging the incoming Grade Six class to complete the parts of the syllabus that were not completed due to the COVID-19 measures.
The teachers, from all Grades, came together and created worksheets for their students to cover the topics missed and those worksheets were distributed. Now, Sears engages her class on Mondays and Fridays where they answer the worksheets and discuss students’ weak areas.
“The students have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to complete them and they bring it back on Fridays and we mark them, we discuss their weak areas and what they may not understand. We distribute another set on Friday and it keeps going on like that.
“But two weeks ago, we took a break because we had some challenges with children not handing up their worksheets on time and some persons were doing the work for the kids, so we decided to take a break,” she related.
Sears and the team at Aishalton Primary have met with the parents to work on implementing safe systems to further keep the students engaged. The young teacher recently attended a virtual meeting with the Education Minister where it was relayed that the targeted date for the next NGSA was July 2020.
“I was telling the HM that now is not the time we should be wasting any time. As soon as they complete the Grade Five syllabus they left off in March, we can go ahead with the Grade Six syllabus and see how much we can finish before their exam,” she explained.
They are hoping to devise a solid plan to engage the students since e-learning is not an option for them given poor Internet connectivity among other issues.
“We know that the Ministry is working so hard right now to have this virtual learning, but in this area and [other] parts of Region Nine, we cannot have that because of the Internet connection and laptop and so on. Places that do not have the Internet, do not have a laptop or tablet, they can improvise like what we are doing. Come up with worksheets with them and distribute it for them.
“For the parents, I would encourage them to work with their children. Do not just sit and wait on the teachers until when school is open. Try to do something, at least read. Most children struggle with reading so if they can at least pick up a book and read, teach them to read, pronounce words. Do something constructive apart from being at home or being on the farm. So, for the parents around here (in Aishalton), I would encourage them to continue working with their children and we (the teachers) will continue cooperating with them until there is a way forward