Guyana discussing licensing teachers

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Guyana education officials are discussing with stakeholders a recommendation that teachers in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country be licensed.

President David Granger said recently that “teachers are the foundation on which a good education system is built and a good education system is a foundation on which any nation is built,”.

Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson said the issue of licensing teachers is one of several recommendations by a Commission of Inquiry into the education system last year.

Hutson said licensing teachers is necessary since the system will guarantee greater discipline and management of educators.

“This will require a complete rethink on how teachers are trained, certified, appraised, managed and disciplined. Every teacher should have an incentive to maintain his or her license to teach,” he said.

The Commission of Inquiry report also stated that consideration must be given to the system’s renewal on a five-year basis, once “certain criteria for professional development, mental and physical assessment are fulfilled”.

Hutson said programmes are being developed to assist teachers, who have been teaching for several years despite being uncertified, upgrade their skills.

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