In praise of teachers

Last week ah was in Praise ah Music, dis week is de Teachers.

Now de cry is dat we losing all our good Teachers. Any blind man wid ah pair ah wooden spectacles would see dat if all de good Teachers moving to greener pastures, dat we need to place ah greater value on de Teachers contribution in de classroom. Ah cannot recall ah Guv-ah-mint dat was never in dispute wid Teachers, wid de ULP, is somewhat less.{{more}} Every lickle matter has been ah struggle; be it Salary, Leave, Allowances or whatever, once it got to do wid Teachers, dey always got to resort to threats of industrial action in order to get what is due dem. And hear nah, Teachers sorry, Educators have always been among the lowest paid Guv-ah-mint wukers; salary revision after salary revision, same insignificant treatment, as if teaching is not important, No Respect!

But in spite ah dat ah significant number of our Teachers continue to bite de dust and tutor we children from de crib or Day Care, Pre School, Kindergarten, yes, and mould Nobodies into Somebodies – Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers. And in de end we all come back and mek nuff times as much salary as our Teachers who made it all possible foh us. So dat is why ah saying dat Teachers or Educators should be among de better paid wukers in de land, dey pay should be ah reflection ah dey status in society. Month end when some ah dem come down foh salary dey can’t even buy ah KFC meal. Good experienced and qualified Teachers should be treated wid de same respect as de Economists or Engineers; and in some cases, treat dem even better too.

Ah calling on Mr Utter Some and de SVUT Executive to stop playing beach cricket wid flannel ball and coconut bat fighting up wid Education Officials. Get de appropriate classification foh Teachers and den sit down wid de Guv-ah-mint and mek de necessary demand. Dat should be easy as every member ah dis Guv-ah-mint was first ah Teacher, dey know de sufferment ah Teachers.

Man how could we even start to measure success in de Education Revolution when de good Teachers leaving de system, and at de higher level de children seem not to be doing well in de subject areas dat will gain dem admittance to study Medicine and Engineering sciences, very much in demand in our country. Are we playing Education Re-Value-shun or nor Revolution?

Give de Educators de respect dey richly deserve, pay dem ah decent salary and ah bet de draining will stop.

LET US GIVE BACK SOMETHING

Garth Saunders is ah fine prodigy of dis land, good at sports and de books. Garth always writes well, he had his bit to say on de shortage ah candidates in Maths and Sciences subjects, but Garth has de answer in his hand, he is first ah Mathematician, second ah Engineer, ah want to challenge Garth to go and teach. And not only Garth, I believe dat if all de Engineers, Civil, Electrical, Science personnel like Doctors etc who are now in healthy paying jobs, will get together and Give Back Something to de Community College, to de Country, just one hour ah week of dey time in de classroom, then we should not have ah problem here wid meeting de country’s need foh Science and Math Teachers. Doing it differently and effectively is what Re-Value-Shun is all about, so let’s brush aside all de attention over de mediocre success ah de kids, and pay some attention way it matters now, wid de Teachers.

SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS TOO

And while we panicking bout de shortage ah Maths and Science Teachers and de serious problems it creating foh our children and by extension de country; nobody ain’t saying ah word bout Sunday School and de lack ah Sunday School Teachers. When ah was ah youth, Sunday School was de bedrock on which de acceptable values of society was drilled into our heads, we talking bout values Love, Respect, Honesty, Discipline etc. At age ten yuh had to know de Ten Commandments, and not just know dem, but be guided daily by dem or be punished foh breaking any ah dem. Ah ting like Blasphemy! Yuh couldn’t say “Oh Gard” and not get ah slap in de mouth. Today is normal to hear parent telling ah child: “Oh Jesus Christ, ah say stop harassing me”! And wha bout Murder! When ah was ah youth de population was fifty thousand, two murders ah year was pandemonium, Pastah would ah pontificate dat de end ah de world was nigh, right now we are at 26 murders in ah population of one hundred thousand, and de year just 8 months ole.

De Commandments was de law in de house and law ah de land as well. Yuh tell ah lie and de licks went like dis, ah lash foh every syllable: “Ah (lash), weary (lash), tell (lash), yuh (lash), doan (lash), lie (lash)”. Not so in my day, thanks to Sunday School, and ah went to all, Met-Dis, Salvation Army but Gospel Hall was de best wid pillar stone teachers like Miss March (a saint) and Doris Adams-Mc Kie.

Mrs Mc Kie was both my Sunday School and Primary School Teacher, Doris played ah significant role in rounding off my education, and Darm dat Care-Not John foh his indifference because dey name de Learning Centre after Doris Mc Kie. Yes we need Sunday School Teachers, as ah matter ah fact de Churches need to get out ah de Paul-ha-tricks and start back Sunday School in full. If we serious about ah rounded education and ah weapon to fight crime on all front, revise Sunday School if only foh de lickle children.

KING JOSIAH

Ah can’t mek another week pass and not big-up Josiah. One ah de most serious man when come to Kaiso business. As President ah de Kaiso Association he gave his heart and had ah vision foh ah bigger movement across de region. In de finances his record was Clean, in de Kaiso Business on stage, he was immaculately dressed, Clean, and his lyrics was always positive, Clean again. He never won King but he represented his namesake well, King Josiah of Judah the eight year ole King who reigned foh 32 years. De passing of Josiah is ah blow to Kaiso. May his soul rest in peace.

Did I say Tri Tri season start from Today? Yes, and wid dat ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.