Some 4,600 individuals – the largest-ever number of applicants – have applied to the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) and could soon become trained teachers in the local education sector.
This is according to the Minister of Education Priya Manickchand who spoke to the News Room on Wednesday.
Manickchand reminded the public that the Ministry of Education is pursuing an ambitious goal of ensuring that teachers across the country are fully trained, or are in the process of becoming fully trained by 2024.
And with the CPCE’s shift to online delivery, the institution is now able to train more applicants than it could have before. Traditionally, with face-to-face learning, the college was only able to admit a maximum of 535 applicants.
Why this is important, Manickchand explained, is because it will increase the number of teachers entering the education system, thereby allowing learners to benefit from teachers who can engage them better.
“When you look at the hinterland, the percentage of trained teachers is much smaller.
“Now we’re going to increase the number of trained teachers there,” Manickchand told the News Room.
And the main expected outcome of the thrust of training teachers is that better results from children may be garnered- including more individualised teaching.
“We will also have a larger quantity (of teachers) so we will be able to give more individual work.
“…so, you might have a teacher and an assistant teacher in the classroom,” she said.
A few days ago, the Education Ministry issued a memorandum that stated that untrained teachers, including those employed, are now required to enroll at the CPCE.
And in that memorandum, signed by the Chief Education Officer (CEO) Dr. Marcel Hutson, the ministry said all untrained teachers can now apply at the appropriate level and programme.
It must be noted that failure to enroll in CPCE “may result in the Ministry’s inability to continue the employment of the persons so failing.”
