IT WAS MONDAY, October 5, World Teachers’ Day. The day when extra attention is paid to the role of the men and women who work every day to create a better future for children and young adults. In Suriname no extra attention is paid to this day. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (OWC) did post one very late in the day short message for the teachers: very general without depth. While teachers in Suriname are having a terribly difficult time.
At various levels, insufficient attention is actually paid to the role that teachers play in society. Teachers must be enthusiastic about molding children into the citizens the country needs. There used to be a sense of respect for the people who taught the children: they were special and had to be treated with respect. Now this group belongs to the people who go to work frustrated, because the salary runs out in the middle of the month.
And instead of OWC using this situation to encourage teachers on World Teachers’ Day, it remained a short, thoughtless, meaningless Facebook post.
Two education conferences were held after Minister Dirk Currie took office. These were held in April and June of this year. It has not been reported how much those four days cost, but because we are working on the future, it may cost something. It all looked slick, top facilities and the best speeches. But now it comes; what is the output? In early September, a draft report was submitted to the President with long-term indicators on the way forward in education. Unfortunately, no vision for 2035 yet.
Low wages, poor facilities in schools, large classes, no modern teaching methods and a whole host of problems make education unattractive to young people. The registrations at pedagogical institutions speak volumes. The government wants to fund the study for young people who still register for these courses, but that is an ad hoc measure. Radical measures are needed to tackle such serious problems in the educational field.
Many of the educational staff also leave for the Caribbean islands and the Netherlands. The hope for a better future makes them leave. That now seems to be much more serious than before. And since departures are rarely announced, there have been many surprises on October 1 this year. Some schools had drastically fewer teachers. What further with little guidance in overcrowded classes? And instead of OWC using this situation to encourage teachers on World Teachers’ Day, it remained a short, thoughtless, meaningless Facebookmail.
The anger of teachers is also palpable these days, now that it is clear that nurses will receive a salary of between seven hundred and a thousand US dollars. By not immediately promising teachers better pay, the government has done more harm than good. This inequality must be eradicated quickly.
