teachers

There are moments in politics when two completely separate stories collide and reveal something much bigger.

On one side, members of Parliament are considering legislation that would increase their salaries and allowances.

On the other, the government is publicly appealing for trained teachers and retired teachers to return to the classroom because the Bahamas is short roughly 300 teachers.

Together, these stories raise a more uncomfortable question: What do politicians’ priorities say about them?

No reasonable person would argue that members of Parliament should never receive a salary review, because their work is demanding, requires long hours, public scrutiny and constant availability.

Is this the right moment?

When a government asks teachers to answer the call to serve because classrooms are understaffed, and “we need you and the children need you,”— while lawmakers discuss increasing their own compensation, the public naturally compares the two conversations.

Teachers are being asked to sacrifice, while the politicians want to receive more.

Teachers have spent years raising concerns about salaries, delayed payments, classroom resources and growing workloads.

Many have left the profession, others have migrated and some retired earlier than planned.

The result is now visible— a national teacher shortage.

The government’s response has been to recruit teachers from overseas, from lower-income countries and encourage retired educators to return.

That may help fill classrooms in the short term, but it does not answer the larger question: Why are so many teachers leaving in the first place?

If a profession is struggling to attract and retain workers, compensation is almost always part of the conversation.

The same can be said for nursing. Healthcare workers have long complained about pay, working conditions and staffing shortages.

Police officers, too, have spoken about the pressures of public service.

Across the public sector, many workers believe they have spent years waiting for promises to become reality.

Prime Minister Philip Davis, a supporter of the proposed increases, argues that Bahamian parliamentarians are paid less than legislators in several neighboring countries.

But so do teachers, nurses and police officers when compared to the United States and Canada.

In the context of Davis’ argument, we ask: How is the economy performing? What promises remain outstanding? Who is still waiting?

Governments often say budgets reflect their priorities.

Citizens apply the same standard to political decisions.

The Bahamas is short of roughly three hundred teachers.

That is the number the government wants the public to focus on regarding vacancies. But that’s not the real story.

The real question is, why are so many teachers leaving the profession in the first place?

When Education Minister Chester Cooper addressed the shortage in Parliament, he described efforts to recruit more teachers and fill vacancies before the start of the new school year. What he did not explain is why those vacancies exist.

Teacher shortages do not appear overnight, but are the result of a profession that fewer people want to enter and more people want to leave.

The public often views teaching as a stable and respectable career, and for generations, it was exactly that. Teaching offered a reliable salary, respect and the opportunity to shape young lives.

Today, many young teachers face a different reality.

Classrooms are packed with more than thirty students.

Others describe struggling to manage behavioural issues with limited support. Many spend hours outside the classroom preparing lessons, grading assignments and completing administrative tasks that follow them home long after school is dismissed.

Then there are physical conditions.

Teachers have complained for years about overcrowded classrooms, ageing infrastructure, excessive heat and inadequate ventilation. While students experience those conditions for part of the day, teachers often endure them for an entire workweek.

The result is a level of burnout that rarely makes headlines.

Many young teachers enter the profession motivated by a desire to help children. Some leave after discovering that passion alone does not pay bills, reduce workloads or solve disciplinary challenges.

Salary is also part of the problem.

Teaching requires training, certification and significant responsibility. Yet many young professionals can often find careers in banking, insurance, tourism, government agencies or the private sector that offer higher earning potential and less stress.

Teachers care, but the profession asks too much while offering too little in return.

The government’s response so far has focused largely on recruitment as a symptom and not the cause.

If many teachers are leaving classrooms, then replacing them without fixing the underlying issues only creates a revolving door—new teachers arrive, frustration builds, and more teachers leave.

And the cycle continues.

Until policymakers are willing to ask why young teachers are walking away, finding new teachers may prove easier than keeping them. And that is a problem no recruitment drive can solve.

School is back in session but teachers are worrying about one more thing besides lesson planning: hot classrooms with no air conditioning which makes teaching and learning near impossible.

Teachers took to social media to vent their frustrations and to plead for fans to cool their sweltering classrooms.

A teacher at Huntley Christie High School in North Andros, Antoine Duncombe said, “Ain’t no way learning can take place. The sun just feels like it’s sitting on earth this time around. These classrooms are hotter than before with two or three working ceiling fans, out of the six.

“This is not conditions teachers and students should have to bare…Please donate three fans for my classroom… We burning up and I out here dressed up daily in shirt and tie.”

Many classrooms in public schools hold approximately 30 students, making it difficult for natural air to blow through the room. And, many classrooms have only ceiling fans which may be inoperable.

It is common for some teachers to purchase fans, but they do nothing to beat the intolerable heat.

A teacher at C.H. Reeves Junior High in New Providence D’Metria Smith begged for assistance from social media users.  “This heat is criminal. Please donate four fans to my classroom.”

In another post, she implored again, “I need four fans please,” as Sharell Edwards of Anatol Rodgers High School solicited an air conditioning unit because “the heat is vicious.”

Cameron Hanna, a teacher in Grand Bahama, described his classroom as “a sauna.”

Classrooms are becoming hotter as global temperatures rise, which can have a dire effect on learning. Summer months are particularly hotter with daytime temperatures reaching about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

A teacher at Eight Mile Rock High School in Grand Bahama, Prisca Hunt, asked, “Dear Mr Prime Minister, how are we teachers supposed to go the extra mile you requested of us in these scorching, inferno, sauna-degrees classrooms?”

And Canovia Ferguson requested that the government “provide comfortable classrooms for our students–classrooms in which our students can concentrate on what the teacher is saying rather than fighting to sit in front of one of the two fans in the class which was purchased by the teacher by the way.”

Some social media users responded favorably, pledging to donate fans to teachers.

The weather seems to be hotter than in past summers and government may have to consider a new type of cooling unit to ensure comfortable classrooms for learning to take place.

In what has become a disappointing first day of school, technical difficulties befell the start of the 2020 school year.

Students and teachers were unable to access the Ministry of Education’s online learning portal.

For about six hours users were greeted with “undergoing maintenance…we’re doing some work on the site and will be back shortly.”

The cause?

Officials of the Ministry of Education issued a statement late Tuesday evening saying the department of education experienced “some technical issues,” preventing access to the Learning Management System.

When will the situation be fixed?

The ministry said One on One and Amazon Web Services, the companies responsible for hosting the platform are working to fix the technical issues, and said it is hoped the challenges are addressed quickly.

What did the Teachers Union President say?

Belinda Wilson said teachers were not notified by the ministry of the technical challenges.

She advised teachers that if the issue persists on Wednesday, they should log on to the system, take a photo of the web page, sign-in at the school’s register and sign out at 12noon.

It is hoped that the online portal will be running by 9 am on Wednesday. If not, schools may choose to continue with the Zoom platform.

October 5^th is the targetted date for the reopening of schools in the Bahamas.

New Providence, Abaco and Eleuthera will engage in online learning, while schools in Grand Bahama and other Family Islands will offer face-to-face learning.

Education Minister Jeffrey Lloyd in a report to the nation announced that an increase in the infection rate of the COVID-19 in New Providence and Family Islands has forced the Department of Education to urgently plan and consider the reopening of schools, which was previously scheduled to reopen September 21st.

However, Bahamas Union of Teachers Belinda Wilson is lamenting that education officials did not confer the new date with the union and is asking education officials for the policy that will govern online and in-person learning amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Will online learning cause problems?

Some teachers have taken to social media to vent their frustrations about the logistics of reopening schools, questioning if the government will provide the digital devices for the teaching instructions, how to ensure student attendance in online learning, and the care of their children as they teach online classes.

Director of Education Marcellus Taylor said employers, to the extent that they can, should consider some levels of flexibility around working arrangements or allowing children to come along with their parents to work, if possible.

He added that attendance officers will ensure the attendance of students, and resource packages will be issued to students without access to the internet and a computer.

Wilson, appearing on Beyond the Headlines, queried the number of hours given for students in a virtual setting, saying the officials assigned too many hours for students to sit and learn virtually.

She also questioned how teachers will assess students’ examinations and quizzes, and how administrators will assess teachers’ performance.

Dr. Ebby Jackson proprietor of Palmdale Vision Center said the online learning has a negative effect on the eyes. Jackson appearing on Beyond the Headlines said eyes were not made to be locked onto a computer screen for long periods of time, which she said will be problematic for teachers, parents, and the students, particularly if either party suffers from an underlying condition.

What are the risks of in-person schooling?

While online learning may present some economic and social impediments, face-to-face classes present clear public health risks to the physical reopening of schools. Though not surging in the Family Islands, COVID-19 cases are springing up.

And schools bring together hundreds of students, which may present a challenge with talking and camaraderie during the lunch period, which experts say cause the virus to spread.

However, most schools on the islands have small population sizes, and Taylor said these schools permit for social distancing, in contrast to schools in New Providence.

Officials announced that students will be spaced 3 feet apart in the classroom, but Wilson is calling for 6 feet spacing, as stipulated for social protocols.

Wilson questioned the class sizes under which teachers will be expected to engage students and implored that education officials install acrylic or plexiglass sheets around the desks of teachers, to reduce the spread.