Demonising teachers at govt schools

TTUTA

IT IS SAD and unfortunate when a stakeholder in education would, if the Newsday report of 3/3/21 is accurate, describe teachers in government schools as acting like public servants while teachers at denominational schools are more dedicated to extracurricular activities.

Separate and apart from the negative connotation being implied upon all public servants, which is offensive to say the least, these sentiments reflect a gross misunderstanding and ignorance of the realities of the education system, and deliberately so, as a means of guarding narrow selfish interests. TTUTA vehemently rejects this negative characterisation of teachers and public officers, strongly advising against such sweeping descriptions without factual evidence.

It is worth reminding the national community that even if the very narrow benchmark of academic performance is used to measure school performance, many denominational schools are underperforming, especially at the primary level. The actual statistics would startle and debunk the narrative that denominational schools are better. Many government secondary schools are also achieving excellent academic results, notwithstanding the many challenges they face.

Apart from teacher efficacy, academic performance is the culmination of a number of factors, including value for education, parental involvement, social support systems, and disciplined and structured home environments. Social deficits are the greatest impediments to academic success and represent the biggest challenge teachers face in ensuring equity in an inequitable education system.

These teachers who “act like public servants” consistently go beyond the call of duty to give free extra lessons, purchase personal and school supplies for students, counsel them when they are faced with issues of extreme poverty and emotional distress, but above everything else give them a sense of hope that with perseverance and determination they will eventually achieve success.

A most dangerous national narrative of defining school performance in terms of “passing exams” and “academic certification” has been perpetuated by selfish interests, forcing the national community to establish an unofficial hierarchy of schools, notwithstanding 21st century notions of the nature and purpose of education. This has resulted in the lumping of students from the lower socio-economic strata into certain secondary school types, overwhelming the capacity of these schools to compensate for these social deficits without commensurate resources.

This is the environment that these “public servant”-type teachers are forced to contend with. But despite this Herculean challenge, they persevere and enable these students to go onto become valuable contributors to the national community.

These “public servant” teachers perform magic, saving lives and creating livelihoods for students who are innocent victims of their circumstances. Their kind and warm words of comfort and genuine caring take precedence over the delivery of an academic curriculum that sometimes holds no meaning or relevance to children who have been disappointed by the significant adults in their lives and who exist in a parallel world of a society that is stratified in so many regards.

Let us not forget the contribution to national growth and development of the technical vocational graduates of these “failed” government schools over the past four decades. These graduates continue to be in high demand both nationally and internationally. Many of them also went onto to become entrepreneurs, not only employing themselves but creating employment for others.

These outcomes, which cannot be measured in tangible terms except in economic constructs such as gross domestic product (GDP), are the fruit of public “servant teachers” who laboured with limited resources and negligible parental support. Their dedication extends well beyond extracurricular activities to include the economic, emotional, and social wellbeing of their charges.

This in no way diminishes the output of teachers in denominational schools and the socio-economic challenges they confront. Stakeholders/partners in education must look beyond their narrow self-seeking interest and see education from a human development paradigm in order to avoid such unfortunate depictions of teachers, the majority of whom give of their best to their charges regardless of school type.

Education is not about competition or good and bad schools – it is about ensuring that all students have equal opportunity to access quality education and that they have the means to take advantage of such opportunity, especially those consigned to an expectation of failure.

Describing teachers at government schools as acting like public servants and being less dedicated to extracurricular activities is elitist, secular and condescending, serving to promote further division in a society that is already polarised based on race, class, and political persuasion. It reflects a level of arrogance and contempt that has become fashionable for many far-right ideologues who think nothing of disrespecting others.