Posted by 
Ron Green Leader of the Opposition and UWP MP
Despite claims by the Skerrit Labour Govt. of spending enormous amounts of money on education, the needs of teachers in Dominica’s schools, have been neglected.
Investigations carried out by the United Workers Party, reveal that the Skerrit Govt. persists with an antiquated quota system in our secondary school system. The government only provides for a limited number of Graduates and trained or Qualified teachers at both Primary and secondary school. As a result, schools in Dominica, especially secondary schools are staffed by a majority of untrained teachers. Among the practical problems facing some of our teachers include the failure of the Ministry to recognize and pay them as Graduate Teachers if they opt to remain in Primary schools. Of great concern, too, is that there are some Graduate Teachers in secondary schools who are struggling to obtain that status. Thus, the attrition rate is very high. Many are no longer making teaching a career.
Teachers Day 2009 finds teachers in Dominica under severe stress.
Teachers are finding it increasingly difficult to manage the curriculum and the students. A poorly implemented and managed Universal Secondary Education programme has not helped. Given the unmanageably high numbers of ill-prepared and disadvantaged students thrust upon our secondary schools, Teachers Day 2009, finds our teachers in Dominica, largely under severe and unnecessary stress. This situation is complicated by the large number of untrained teachers at various levels.
United Workers Party believes that good teachers are critical to student learning. The growing body of empirical evidence confirms that teachers of high ability, who are thoroughly versed in their subject matter, master their teaching methods and know their students well, are the most successful in promoting student learning. Therefore, recruiting, preparing and retaining good teachers will be the central strategy of the UWP for improving schools and obtaining better results, and better quality education. The UWP believes, that School Reform cannot succeed unless it focuses on creating the conditions in which teachers can teach and teach well.
