‘More teachers are needed in the schools’ |26 July 2018

The Minister for Education and Human Resource Development Jeanne Simeon visited two schools on Mahé’s south east coast yesterday morning, discussing ways to improve education.

Minister Simeon’s first stop was at the Anse Aux Pins primary school where she was welcomed by head teacher Kathleen Samson.

The minister was accompanied on her visit by special advisor Merida Delcy, principal secretary Dr Odile de Commarmond and director general of primary schools Cyril Pillay, among other education officials.

The delegation visited several classes while also checking for improvement that may be needed around the school.

Ms Samson emphasised on the much needed extra help in terms of both teachers and safety.

“We’ve had vacancies for teaching positions for a while, and even if teachers do get hired, they are not qualified teachers and they don’t stay for a long time,” she said, noting also that discipline, or lack of it, is a factor affecting education.

She also stated that the safety of the children is also a concern.

“People from outside the school have easy access to the school’s premises because the fences can easily be broken,” she said.

The ministerial delegation’s next stop was at the Au Cap primary school.

Head teacher Merna Albert, who welcomed the delegation, also emphasised the lack of teachers in the school as a major concern.

The delegation first toured the classroom for children with hearing which is located on the east side of the campus. This classroom was  officially opened on January 30 this year by the former Minister for Education Joel Morgan.

Ms Albert spoke a bit about the school’s performance in the previous national exam, but focused mainly on the need for more educators at the school.

“The result for the 2017 National Exam wasn’t great, but this year we have come with a sense of determination. We can see improvement in terms of discipline, not much bullying and we’ve made great improvements in relation to fights at school which have seen a drastic decrease, but as always the main challenge is lack of teachers. For a small school like ours, the absence of two teachers can create chaos and that’s what we need to improve on,” she stated.

Minister Simeon said the aim of such visits is to go out and meet the students, teachers and staff, “so that we can see exactly what is going on in the schools”.

“We also get a chance to see what problems the school may have and which the Ministry of Education can help with,” she added.

As for vacancies in teaching positions, Minister Simeon said the lack of teachers has always been a problem, but the ministry tries to as much as possible keep these positions fully booked.

“After meeting with both head teachers, we’ve seen that both have put much emphasis on the lack of teachers and that will be our main focus going forward,” said Minister Simeon.

She further added that these visits will continue soon to schools further south. 

The accompanying photos show highlights of the visits to the Anse Aux Pins and Au Cap primary schools.