– Baksh warnsThe role of teachers as change agents in the society was emphasised recently by Minister of Education, Shaik Baksh,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, as he addressed a gathering of trainee teachers at the Cyril Potter College of Education. According to the Minister,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, there is an urgent need for the role of teachers in the society to be restored, a feat which must start at the level of the Teachers Training College. “We have to ensure that it starts from the Teachers College. That what is taught here leaves an imprint on the minds of the teachers…They have to go out in the society as a whole as change agents,” the Minister asserted.Minister of Education, Shaik BakshIt is of utmost importance, Baksh warned, that teachers interact with members of the community and not seek to confine themselves to the school alone. “To restore that image of the teacher, teachers must interact with parents and others and don’t see teaching as merely teaching a subject and completing the curriculum alone and then leave.” Additionally,Womens Nike Free Run, it is crucial that teachers seek to understand the various social and economic backgrounds from which students come, an undertaking that very few teachers dare to engage, the Minister noted. “This is absent in too many cases. The teachers don’t make a differentiation between and among different students; to look at their needs…and that is in part responsible for what seems to be on the rise – the kinds of unacceptable behaviours; the lost of values in the school system and we have to restore that.”For this reason, the Minister underscored that it is imperative that efforts are directed at preparing teachers at the level of the Training College to understand their true and complete role as an educator. The onus is on every teacher, he noted, that they understand each child entrusted in their educating care in the quest to learn more of their individual abilities. “As we teach in the school system we realise that some students have better abilities than others and we tend to focus on those even at Grade One and Two of the Primary Level and this is wrong. We have to focus on those children who are slower too.”This state of affairs has resulted in a situation whereby a mere 30 percent of students at the Grade Six level are able to secure more than 50 percent at their assessment. The education sector,Cheap NFL Shop, according to the Minister, will not be able to succeed with such a track record, thus the need for the engagement of several intervening measures to help those who are being left behind on an annual basis. According to the Minister, the accumulated effect of “students being left behind” is a failure of the Primary School system in Guyana. “We have a lot of measures now in place to reverse that but teachers must strive to ensure that every child from grade to grade catch up so that the transition to the secondary level is not difficult.”And the Ministry has been challenged to address this situation, at great cost, to start a six-year secondary programme to address the failure of the Primary School system. The Ministry, according to the Minister, is geared at effecting changes that will not only be reflected in teachers’ teaching methods but through programmes such as the Grade Four literacy Certificate programme, which will be introduced from next year. This programme,Cheap NFL Jerseys, he insisted, will seek to put pressure on both teachers and parents and the management of schools to ensure that students are able to become the recipient of a prestigious literacy certificate. Those students unable to secure the certificate will be given a subsequent year to do so. “We are pushing and applying the pressure in the school system to perform at a higher level and this means the teachers have to perform. International research has shown that quality teachers make the difference and I firmly believe this,” the Minister asserted.