Trinidad and Tobago

This is a delightful article because it demonstrates how teaching as well as students have changed over the years. There was once an absolutism that no longer exists, but at the same time, the article suggests how needs of children have changed, therefore changing the classroom and the duty of the teacher. When home is in chaos, the child relies on school to be his anchor. Teachers see more and more children who need to be anchored.

Trinidad and Tobago's News
Monday 21st November 2005

Tobagonian Wins Award: President Bats for Today’s Teachers

By JOAN RAMPERSAD

PRESIDENT George Maxwell Richards, speaking at the Teacher of the Year Awards function at the Cascadia Hotel on Saturday night, said teachers have been under siege to a very great extent, given the many problems that they have to deal with nowadays. Noting that the awards represent outstanding service in education, sports, culture, community and national development, President Richards said, “These areas bring to mind the completeness that the work of the teacher must demonstrate into power as to the development of children is concerned. “This is no more than what was expected of teachers in former times. The difference is that times have changed. Methods of teaching have changed as has curricular. Systems have adjusted, the traditional hours of schools are not what they use to be when some of us were at schools, and we certainly had no rights, which was not necessarily a bad thing at that time.”

President Richards said the teachers’ role as educator, guidance officers and counsellors, was very clear. He said in days gone by it was understood throughout the country that the teachers were one of the leading exemplars in the society and one would not enter the teaching profession without this understanding. However the President said, “Nowadays, we have an international instrument defining the rights of the child which has been adopted by many Third World states and which is intended for the protection of children. How it works, or the net effect of such an instrument, I am not in a position to comment on. Suffice it to say that our children are being nurtured through a starkly different world than how it was before.” President Richards has called for the problems to be tackled from the ground level starting with early childhood education. He warned that now is not the time to sign off from the job as responsibility is not transferable. Rather, he called on teachers to adopt innovative thinking and more than getting children to pass exams, they must get the children equipped for life after school.

Winning the award on the night was Tobagonian Phillip Anthony Rochford, who came with a prepared winning speech. He acknowledged the presence of the Almighty, adding that he has been blessed to be a citizen of TT, married to a lovely Tobagonian woman and thirdly to be chosen to serve in society as a teacher. Rochford said the profession requires a commitment and a labour of love. He too spoke of the turbulence of the external environment hence he feels that interaction with the church and communities can go a long way. He said, “We must ensure that our children are equipped to deal with the philosophies of our environment and I will ensure that all my students perform to that maximum potential and towards the development of TT.” Rochford, a graduate from the Valsayn Teachers’ College, began his teaching career in 1989 and now teaches at Lambeau Anglican School, where he serves as Dean, Sports Master, House Master, football assistant coach, coordinator of sports meetings and member of the Parent Teachers’ Association.

Earlier, Gary Woo Chong, representative of Mohammed Book Stores and Caribbean Educational Publishers, in his remarks said he was proud to recognise the dedication, care and patriotism of the nobel profession. He said that teachers were faced with enormous challenges but they are doing a fantastic job. “Great teachers understand that it is not only the hardware that matters but the software. The caring, understanding and the sacrifice of much of their personal lives, I believe, makes them superheroes,” Woo Chong said. Peter Gillette, Chairman of the Gillette Group of Companies, spoke of the late Dr Eric Williams’ famous speech that ended, “you carry the future of the nation in your school bags” as he noted the changes that the Ministry of Education is embarking on. He lauded the Minister Hazel Manning for budgeting for 3,000 computers in the schools’ system next year.

He said the new state of the art technology must augur well for the education system on the whole and that he is now looking towards the modern education environment, expressing his hope that teachers will embrace the technology. Gillette also called on teachers to continue the journey that Williams started many years ago. He ended by saying, “all teachers should be recognised for their contribution in building the nation.” Education Minister Hazel Manning said that her ministry was now engaged in a major reform exercise that is changing the face of education in TT. The focus is on all levels of quality education in the country. She said the ministry will be taking to Cabinet, a proposal for a four-year training programme at the UTT for persons who choose teaching as a career. The degree programme will deal with all the modern day issues necessary to teach effectively. She also spoke of the introduction of a Quality Incentive Award plan to recognise the contributions made towards quality teaching.