This archive report was first published on 26 July 2021.
As schools prepare to reopen on Monday, July 26, 2021, a new report by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has highlighted the dire challenges faced by teachers that could cause a disruption to the new academic year.
According to the report titled Teacher Preparedness for Term One 2021 School Reopening, teachers may not be well prepared to tackle the numerous challenges ahead.
The greatest challenge cited by teachers is the disruption that the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic could cause, attributed to the fear of the unknown which has caused panic among teachers especially after the nine-month hiatus of the school calendar in 2020.
Other challenges stipulated within the report include syllabus coverage, congestion of schools, limited infrastructure, overworked teachers, and the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) changes instituted by the Education Ministry.
Fee payment is also a major cause for concern for the teachers as they alleged that if parents failed to pay the fees, the school calendar could be disrupted due to financial constraints.
Among the remedies recommended by the report include: increasing psychosocial support for the teachers, training them on Covid-19 management, providing regular medical checkups, and incorporating remote learning in order to ensure the completion of the syllabus.
