President Faure receives outstanding teacher graduates |29 November 2019

The four outstanding graduates in a souvenir photograph with President Faure after the meeting (Photo: Thomas Meriton)

Initiatives to make the profession more attractive and incorporating digital technologies into the curriculum and educational institutions are some of the recommendations put forth to President Danny Faure by the outstanding performers from the 2019 cohort of teacher graduates who underwent training at the University of Botswana.

Ted Arrisol, Tracy Constance, Tania Bellard (UB Valedictorian Awardee) and Sharon Chetty, the four outstanding graduates who all achieved first-class honours in their respective Bachelor of Education programmes, met President Danny Faure at State House yesterday morning whereby he congratulated them on their achievements and discussed with them their study programmes, university experiences and the challenges that they are faced with as young teachers since their return earlier this year.

“As you know, there have been debates at national level about the education system and we know the challenges including disciplinary problems, lack of local teachers, the school environment itself, resources available, among others. A proposition we made is to find ways to attract more people and make teaching a career that people want to join to encourage not just youths, but those who have left the profession to return,” said Ted Arrisol.

“Perhaps one of those incentives is money, people tend to think teachers are really well paid but we are not. There are incentives but the basic salary is a bit low. If disciplinary problems are addressed then that could also help. It is important to understand that there are other career opportunities that pay better so finding ways to make the profession more attractive. We talked about training B-Ed or Masters, personal development and other incentives to make the career more attractive,” Mr Arrisol added.

The teachers also proposed that digital technologies be incorporated into the education system in a bid to motivate pupils from an early age and improve academic attainment.

“This generation is more tech-savvy and we suggested the basics such as computers and interactive boards which would help to get the children more interested in education and their personal development,” Ms Constance said.

The four graduates are from a cohort of seven in-service teachers who graduated with Bachelor of Education Secondary School Programmes from the University of Botswana this year as part of a bilateral agreement between Seychelles and Botswana since 2014.

Between the period of 2014 to 2019, over 40 in-service teachers have successfully completed Bachelor of Education programmes at the university. A further eight are still being trained.

With regard to their achievements, they all put it down to hard work, dedication and making an effort.

Mr Arissol followed a two-year Bachelor of Education Leadership and Management in Education programme and is currently with Perseverance secondary school.

Ms Constance and UB Valedictorian awardee Ms Bellard both completed three-year Bachelor of Education Science programmes, Ms Constance specialising in Chemistry and Ms Bellard in Biology. Ms Constance teaches at Plaisance secondary school and Ms Bellard at Belonie secondary school.

Ms Chetty is with Mont Fleuri secondary school after having completed her Bachelor of Education in Education and Humanities, a two-year programme.

Laura Pillay