Education sector to implement policies to improve system – Sam 

The public education system is designed in such a way that those who are regarded the best within the sector would one day move to the top and assume leadership positions.  At least this was the utterance of Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, as he addressed a gathering of South Georgetown teachers.
According to Sam, “it is my consummate wish that teachers could internalise the fact that this system is structured so that the best among you will rise to the top and be the leaders of this education system.” In doing so, he urged that efforts will be made to reflect on all of the ideals that one could expect to be reflected in all the policy decisions and actions taken by the Ministry of Education. Teachers, according to him, often stress the fact that their task, as educators of the nation, is a very hard job and they are under an inordinate amount of pressure. “…There is pressure from the students, pressure from parents, from the officers in the Ministry and from almost all in sundry.” Additionally, Sam noted that teachers have even stressed that sometimes policy decisions are made without them being consulted and that “they feel as though at times that they are not as connected as they can be to that process of implementing policies.”
In fact, he alluded to the notion that some teachers are convinced that the gap between what happens in the classroom and those decision making processes is much too wide. “They (teachers) have stressed the fact that they don’t feel valued enough, they stress too that they don’t see the value in the money they receive on a monthly basis and ultimately that they need to be placed more at the centre of this educational process,” Sam added.
Although not in a position to address remuneration with the teachers, he did note that while money is important there are other elements of what “we do that are just as or even more important. I firmly believe that most of our teachers genuinely do believe in raising the quality of the children they are charged with…they genuinely care about the young people who sit in front of them every day.
I believe that and I think when you take away everything else at the end of the day my job, like yours, is to ensure that we deliver the best possible education for the young people in this nation.”
However, Sam noted that the worry that remains within the sector is the fact that there is no prescription in getting things right, adding that “there is no one way in doing it right. In education there are no absolute theories, there is no silver bullet or no panacea that can fix everything in one first swoop….So we attempt, as best as we can, to devise policies and ensure that the mechanisms are put in place to implement the policies that we deem to be the most appropriate and potentially the most effective for our young people.”
It is for this reason, the Chief Education Officer said that efforts are being made, starting at the lowest level of the education system, to engage educators on ways to help improve the sector.