State schools gear up for a new school year   |21 January 2023

PS Eulentin ad Mr Arnephy during the press conference yesterday (Photo: Patsy Canaya)

•  Ministry of Education addresses curriculum, teacher shortage, security, and resources

   

As schools, parents and students get ready for a new school year on Monday, the Ministry of Education has relayed its plan for the year, including the curriculum, availability of teaching resources, staff shortage and security on school premises.

In a half hour press conference yesterday morning at the ministry’s headquarters at Mont Fleuri, the principal secretary for Education, Merna Eulentin, accompanied by the director general for the Institutional Support Services Division, Bernard Arnephy, addressed some pertinent issues which they said remain as challenges, but will not hinder the education process.

PS Eulentin said that all preparations have been made for the beginning of the school year with the majority of schools fully staffed.

According to her, the early childhood schools are fully manned, while some schools are understaffed in their Primary 3 to Primary 6 levels.

She explained that these schools are making some internal arrangements to accommodate the classes.

However, she said the main challenge remains at secondary level where they are short by up to four or five teachers.

PS Eulentin said that the Ministry of Education was receiving applications from both locals and foreigners, and from those who have recently completed their studies and are ready to start employment.

“Hopefully the situation will stabilize by the first term. It will not be perfect; we will always have room for improvement but we will be able to manage the situation. The schools will be able to function although we are encouraging teachers who feel they can take on extra classes, to do so and they will be renumerated if they do so,” added PS Eulentin.

For his part, Mr Arnephy called on retired teachers who feel they are strong enough to give a helping hand to come forward and assist those schools.

According to him, many retired teachers opted to come forward last year and work on a part-time basis and this was a huge help to the ministry.

“Part-timers were really helpful to ensure students did not miss much but our priority remains to encourage people to join the teaching profession and those who feel they can, please take on additional classes, and you will be renumerated for it, as mentioned,” said Mr Arnephy.

With regard to the curriculum, the Ministry of Education said this will remain the same. However, the proposal to review the length of a period from forty minutes to one hour, which was discussed in a national forum by the ministry last year, is now being encouraged. According to her the initial proposal was welcomed by a lot of schools and some schools have already started doing their trial runs to see how they cope with a longer period.

The ministry has now given permission to more schools that want to do a trial, and are fully prepared and ready, to do so.

“We are giving the schools around six weeks to do the trial and report to us with feedback. Of course, during those six weeks, we will be monitoring to see how it is being done and the schools themselves can contact us to explain how the procedures are working. What are the difficulties/challenges they are facing, the strong points, and how students and teachers are adapting,” she said.

Regarding headteachers, the ministry has confirmed that there are no new headteachers at primary level but some have been rotated for the new school year and the list will be published on Monday.

For secondary schools, the post of headteacher at the Mont Fleuri secondary school remains vacant following the departure of Marc Arrissol. The post has been advertised since last year and according to Miss Eulentin, to date, there are no applicants.

“We want it to be a transparent process so our new approach it to advertise the post instead of nominating a person,” explained PS Eulentin.

She explained that in the past it was mainly the deputies from that school who would step into the post, or the ministry would have nominated a person to fill in the post.

At present the school’s council chairperson and the two deputies are overseeing the daily operations with the support of the ministry.

For Praslin secondary, Ian Collie is the new headteacher. He replaces Michael Antoine who retired last year. Sir Collie was chosen out of three applicants.

The Ministry of Education has also announced that this year it will be addressing the issue of integration of new subjects “to respond to the students’ needs”.

These include financial education, that will incorporate entrepreneurship. PS Eulentin said although a lot of work has been done in that area, there still needs to be more training and further consultations with the teachers.

Another subject is tourism, which although features in geography is being proposed as a standalone subject.

The Ministry of Education also plans to introduce Information Technology (IT) at primary level. The subject is presently taught only at secondary levels.

There is also ethics education supported by Unesco, which the ministry says will promote value-based education, where students will learn about moral values, peace, and democracy.

Already working groups have been set up by the ministry to find ways to incorporate these new subjects into the education programme.

PS Eulentin said some schools are already taking it upon themselves to introduce those subjects.

With the beginning of the school year, the ministry is also appealing to students to respect school properties and resources. According to Mr Arnephy, this is another challenge as resources especially furniture are not properly maintained.

Mr Arnephy said around R3 million of their budget allocated for the purchase of furniture, have not been earmarked for new furniture such as chairs and tables, as these were recently replaced, but rather replace white boards in all schools, while the remaining funds will be used to replace wooden shelves ravaged by drywood mites with aluminium steel shelves.

He has therefore called on the students to be more responsible.

The ministry has also announced that this year it will be strict with security firms providing security service at all the state schools, which do not deliver a good service. This followed a series of thefts in some schools, the recent incidents were reported in Plaisance primary school where around R2000 worth of equipment and school materials were stolen. Mr Arnephy said there was a comprehensive audit last year of the over thirty security firms and effective this year, firms that were found to be underperforming are being struck off the list.

The ministry has also upgraded security at all schools by installing surveillance cameras at secondary schools and Mr Arnephy said this will now be extended to primary schools, beginning with those more at risk such as Plaisance primary, which is in a residential zone.

The new school year starts on Monday, January 23 for Creche Year 1, Primary 1 and Secondary 1.

Classes for Crèche Year 2, Primary 2, Primary 3, Primary 4, Primary 5, Primary 6, Secondary 2, Secondary 3, Secondary 4, Secondary 5 will resume the following day on Tuesday January 24.

Students who are supposed to attend school at the newly built Belonie secondary school are informed that their school will be operational as from Monday. Around 450 students from S1 to S5 will be attending the new school.

The Ministry of Education said the La Rosière campus, which was being occupied by the Belonie students, will now accommodate La Rosière primary 1, 2, 5 and 6.

Students of P3 and P4, who were already attending Mont Fleuri primary, have already been integrated into that school and will remain there.

Patsy Canaya