Teachers from Botswana to arrive this weekend |10 February 2016

Fourteen teachers from Botswana are expected to arrive here this coming weekend to join the local education system and help allay rising fears of a shortage.

Early childhood, primary and secondary education principal secretary Merida Delcy said this in an interview with Seychelles NATION yesterday following complaints of a shortage of teachers in primary and secondary state schools.

Mrs Delcy said the first cohort of teachers from Botswana was expected to arrive here in mid-December before the first group of Seychellois teachers was to leave in January to follow advanced training at the University of Botswana.

This forms part of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Botswana Minister for Education and Skills Development Dr Unity Dow and the Seychelles Minister for Education Macsuzy Mondon.

But for reasons beyond the control of the Seychelles Ministry of Education, the teachers from Botswana will only be coming this weekend.

“The Batswana teachers were to arrive in Seychelles around mid-December but did not. This is because of the long break in December in Botswana. Although we had already contacted them we had to wait until mid-January to get a response from them. It means they got late to process the papers of the candidates, but on the Seychelles’ side we were ready with the accommodation. The process has been completed and we expect 16 Batswana teachers to arrive this weekend. Another six will come the following weekend. They are mostly language teachers,” said Mrs Delcy.

PS Delcy explained that among the reasons for a shortage of teachers are that some decide at the end of the year to retire from teaching, while others go on to follow training either overseas or locally.

“We have to make sure we have enough teachers in the system and this is part of our planning. We also place advertisements on at least two occasions during the year for teachers to join the ministry. We have recruited some teachers but we are never satisfied with the number of teachers we get. This is because it is difficult to get teachers locally. Private and public schools are all tapping in the same pool of teachers,” she said.

The principal secretary explained that it is “mostly qualified and well-trained teachers who leave the system to join the private schools who do not necessarily invest in these kinds of training.”

 This is another reason for a shortage of teachers, but PS Delcy noted that this year the situation can be described as “exceptional as 20 teachers have left for Botswana to follow their training”.

Mrs Delcy said since 2006, some young Seychellois teachers who have completed their diploma in education had been waiting for the opportunity to do a first degree in the subject of their choice. 

“It has been a dream of theirs. As we waited to send teachers by cohort of four to train overseas some left the system as they felt de-motivated. To stop this, we decided to send a bigger group this time as the University of Botswana agreed to clear the backlog. But it’s unfortunate that the teachers from Botswana could not arrive here on time,” she said.

To cover for the shortage, the ministry hires Seychellois part-time teachers and also get teachers who have retired to come back.

Officials working in the curriculum section at the ministry and members of the school management also cover whenever there is a teacher shortage. 

This year at least 40 students who completed their A-Levels last year and are waiting for their scholarships will also be helping out in schools.

“The ministry never stops recruiting. It is an ongoing process as some people leave the profession. Sometimes we do get expatriates who don’t meet the standards and we have to terminate their contracts. Sometimes some of them have to leave Seychelles unexpectedly as a result of unforeseen circumstances back home and we have to replace them,” said Mrs Delcy, who added that they also expect the arrival later this month of Kenyan teachers who will be teaching mathematics.

“The situation is not worse than it was in the past and if we had not encountered the unfortunate situation with the Batswana teachers things would have been different,” she noted.

Speaking about the ministry’s teacher retention programme, she said they are quite happy and noted that between 2011 and 2016, 60 teachers who had left reintegrated the system.

Four teachers who had gone to the University of Botswana in 2012 came back in 2014 and another 13 are expected back in May. Seven left for Botswana in 2015 and 20 this year. They are studying in the area of English language, mathematics, science and social sciences.

At least three teachers are doing their masters and another 12 are studying for a Licence Française at the University of Seychelles.

“This falls within the Education Sector Medium-Term Strategy 2013-2017 that by 2017 all secondary teachers are trained. Quality education is high on our agenda and to improve the quality of education in the system we need quality teachers in the classrooms,” said Mrs Delcy.