Leave teachers' colleges alone

Garth Anderson, GUEST COLUMNIST

I feel compelled to write in response to Senator Wensworth Skeffery's key assertions as carried in The Sunday Gleaner of February 9. In general, I am concerned about the senator's remarks regarding reorganising teacher-training institutions to focus on specific education needs. Truth be told, this has been in line with the rationalisation that took place in the 1990s in the colleges.

The notion of outsourcing to private entities cannot be entertained. In my view, this opens the door to the lowering of standards, depriving poor people's children from getting an education as the focus would be reduced to a for-profit venture. It would also raise questions about the capacity and experience of these private institutions.

Training teachers is not merely about passing prescribed subjects; it is a total developmental process that colleges have been doing for centuries, starting with the establishment of Mico since 1835. The question of quality assurance beyond academic pursuits is questionable as many private entities do not have the ethos and the necessary resources to embark on this undertaking.

The senator himself has benefited from this holistic education at Mico. I am sure he would never want to deprive the students of this opportunity.

It is clear that the senator does not have all the facts about the operations of teacher-training colleges, or about the matter of the oversupply of teachers. It should be noted that as of this year, the colleges, collectively, will be sending out fewer than 500 graduates since we have transitioned from the diploma to the degree programme.

In addition, the matter of the oversupply of teachers is defined based on the data. We have requested from the Ministry of Education information on the exact number of teachers and their specialised areas to determine the basis of this oversupply. To date, we have not had a reply to this request for the data.

Poor People's Universities

Governments in Central America are now getting involved in teacher education in order to set standards in teacher training. I cannot see why he would want us to go in that direction. Many students who enter the colleges are from humble backgrounds. For them, a college education is not just gaining a teaching certification, but a tertiary education.

The colleges are 'poor people universities',. therefore, nothing should prevent them from such an opportunity for upward mobility. I would want to think that it is a much better situation to have the masses obtaining tertiary-level education than being illiterate or having no potential skills for development.

Within this global context, our training of teachers is not just for local consumption. In fact, it should be noted that at no time has the education system been able to absorb the number of teachers leaving the colleges each year.

The holistic training that colleges provide makes teachers more marketable, and so the private sector, as well as Parliament, has been the beneficiary of many graduates of teachers' colleges.

Colleges, for the past five decades, have not benefited from government support beyond the payment of salaries. Many of the developments that have been taking place in these colleges are as a result of the ingenuity of principals, boards, past students, staff and private-sector support.

As a product of the system, I would have thought that the senator would be lobbying for infrastructural investment in these institutions. We have 10 teacher-training institutions in Jamaica. What would happen if we just focused on those areas of need identified by the senator?.

Leave the teachers' colleges alone. These institutions have led the way for education for the underprivileged. Their future must be determined through a process of civic engagement with the key players in the sector, not from the benches of the Senate.

Garth Anderson is principal of Church Teachers' College: Mandeville. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garth.anderson@ctc.edu.jm.