Untrained teachers urged to get enrolled at CPCE

The Ministry of Education’s call for untrained teachers to be enrolled at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) is a move that will ensure educators are in a better position to deliver quality education even as Guyana moves towards a first-class education system.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, M.P, said Guyana is seeking to have “first-class” education.  She told DPI Monday, that the ministry aims to train all teachers by 2025, creating a solid education system that produces well educated students.

“We believe firmly that trained teachers in the system are likely to produce a better quality of education and a better cohort of students, and of course we can’t be talking about a first-class education that we want to deliver and still not have a 100 per cent of our teachers trained.

“So, what we are aiming for here is that by 2024- 2025 we have a 100 per cent of our teachers trained or in training, and we believe that is a reachable target.”

The Minister said the CPCE has already received some 4,600 applications,the largest number ever seen by the college at any one time. The college has only been able to admit 535 applicants at its highest capacity.  She explained that the institution will be expanding to offer online education to facilitate the flood of applicants, and ensure classrooms are not left without teachers during instruction time.

“Prior to this movement, teachers would have to get permission from their schools to go to CPCE and or UG and to go there, there had to be vacancies in the schools, only x numbers of teachers could be trained at the same time. When those teachers were out of the classrooms, classrooms were left empty, so it was inconvenient both to the teacher, as well as the students the end user. So, these are some small but extremely significant changes we are making in terms of the output we are looking for which is excellence all around.”

She said everywhere in the world persons are aiming to have trained teachers in the classrooms, which will have a beneficial impact on the lives of students, as it will enhance their academic performance, opening more windows of opportunities for them and generations to come. 

Meanwhile, the minister said she is pleased with the responses received by teachers and is encouraging others to join the profession.

The college continues to achieve great heights, registering the largest graduating batch of some 843 trained teachers in January this year.  Of that amount, 198 were trained in Early Childhood education, 404 in Primary, and 241 qualified for the secondary level. 

Of the 843 students, 198 pursued the Trained Teacher’s Certificate (TTC) Programme and 645 pursued the Associate Degree (ADE) in Education Programme.