Government might seek to rehire retired teachers to assist with sloppy Math grades

State Minister Joseph Harmon said Cabinet at its most recent meeting had engaged in extensive deliberation on the results in Mathematics at the 2016 Grade Six Examination.

Government might seek to rehire retired teachers to assist with sloppy Math grades

Government is looking at the possibility of either recruiting retired teachers or extending the age of retirement as a means of tackling the unsatisfactory results in mathematics nationwide.

State Minister Joseph Harmon said Cabinet at its most recent meeting had engaged in extensive deliberation on the results in Mathematics at the 2016 Grade Six Examination.

Among the proposals from Cabinet members and the technical staff from the Ministry of Education was to consider the recruitment of retired teachers.

Harmon explained teachers usually retire at an age when they are “at the top of their game.”

He also acknowledged that several private school have been engaged in the practice of hiring these retirees from the public system.

The Minister said the technical team being led by the Minister of Education is expected to come up with a plan within one week to address this particular situation.

Harmon said it was felt that the new approach should require students to reason more.

Short term remedial measures are being developed to address the situation in which best practice will be used and areas where additional resources are needed will be identified.

For many years Guyana has consistently failed to achieve acceptable pass rates in Mathematics, an important core subject.

For the first time this year, the Ministry of Education contracted the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) to conduct the examination for the Grade Six students in Guyana.

Harmon said the new basis of assessment used by the Caribbean Examination Council further exposed the weakness in the Ministry’s approach to the subject.

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