A new report by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has revealed the dire challenges faced by teachers that could cause a suspension of the new academic year.
According to the report titled Teacher Preparedness for Term One 2021 School Reopening, teachers may not be well prepared to tackle the numerous challenges as schools resume learning on Monday, July 26.
The greatest challenge cited by teachers is the disruption that the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic could cause.
This was attributed to the fear of the unknown which has caused panic among teachers especially after the nine-month hiatus of the school calendar in 2020.
Syllabus coverage was also listed as the tutors' second greatest threat to continuous physical learning.
The report detailed that the school calendar released by the Education Ministry was too congested to allow them to adequately offer quality learning.
"Because of available time, the quality learning is a headache to teachers,” TSC director of quality assurance Reuben Nthamburi stated.
The third challenge raised by teachers in the report involved the congestion of schools as they try to contend with the guidelines stipulated by the Health Ministry.
Schools' limited infrastructure came into play as teachers have to ensure that the students work within the guidelines.
In addition to this, the congestion of the schools would lead to teachers being overworked as they rushed to finish the school syllabus.
TSC, in the report, pointed out that tutors would have more workloads on their hands in order to ensure peak performance from all students.
The Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) was also pointed out as another headache for teachers especially with the new changes instituted by the Education Ministry.
Fee payment is also a major cause for concern for the teachers as they alleged that if parents failed to pay the fees, the school calendar could be disrupted due to financial constraints.
Other challenges stipulated within the report include early pregnancies, drug and substance abuse, insecurity as children go to schools as well as the number of dropouts.
Among the remedies recommended by the report include: increasing psychosocial support for the teachers, training them on Covid-19 management, providing regular medical checkups, and incorporating remote learning in order to ensure the completion of the syllabus.
