President of Dominica, His Excellency Charles Savarin, has called for improved working conditions for teachers in Dominica.
He made the call during an address as Dominica joins the rest of the world to observe World Teachers’ Days today.
According to the President, the aim of celebrating World’s Teachers’ Day is to focus on assessing, appreciating and improving educators around the world. It also provides an opportunity to shed light on the issues related to teachers and teaching.
“Teachers need healthy, safe and enabling working conditions that are free from prejudice and discrimination and they must be provided with safety measures, decent working hours, fair remuneration and career development opportunities,” he said.
He believes this will both promote the status of the profession and improve recruitment, retention and motivation.
Savarin is also recommending that teachers and their representatives be adequately consulted in decision-making and is of the view that there must also be “a concerted effort to engage and support teachers if a successful transformation is to take place in education” as well as avenues to enable them to share their knowledge they circularize in the classroom at different levels including through social media.
Meantime, the President said the educational disruptions caused by the recent natural disasters, Tropical Storm Erika in 2015, Hurricane Maria in 2017 and the Covid-19 Pandemic have confirmed the crucial role of teachers in maintaining learning continuity and in sustaining the very dynamics of household, families and communities.
“We witnessed how teachers were at the heart of educational response, not only in ensuring that learning can continue in spite of school closure, but in also supporting their student’s socio-emotional and well-being and doing so even at their own expense,” he remarked. “While many studies have concluded that teacher quality is the single most important in-school factor influencing students’ achievement, teachers remain highly under-recognized.”
He pointed out that many teachers were, in fact, forced to adopt new modalities of teaching with little or no training and lack of proper electronic devices.
Savarin posited that without teachers, there can be no transformation in education and while significant resources have been committed to the construction of schools destroyed or otherwise impacted by Tropical Storm Erika and Hurricane Maria and new career opportunities have and are being created for teachers, “there is still more to be done.”
World Teachers’ Day, also known as International Teachers Day, is held yearly on October 5. Since it was set up in 1994, the day celebrates the marking of the ”teaching in Freedom” in 1996.
Every year World Teachers’ Day presents the opportunity to celebrate teachers recognizing their contribution to the development of the nation and to put in the spotlight the incredible responsibility that they bear and ensuring that all children and youth in every country can enjoy the right to education.
The theme this year is “The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers”.
Savarin all of the baloney you are spewing is nothing than a blatant show!
If yo really want better working condition for any working segment of the society; since you are another puppet in Roosevelt Cabal, if you are serious about the garbage you spewed, all you had to do is invite the corrupted crook Roosevelt to the Mansion he afforded you to live in for dinner over some roast Mountain Chicken “Crapo frog” meat; and there try to influence god Roosevelt to give better pay; medical insurance and retirement benefits such as medical insurance for the rest of their life!
If you do not want to invite him to the China mansion riddled with listening devises, perhaps Roosevelt could invite you over to his mansion also riddled with Chines, and Montreal Management listening and recording devise’s to come up with a plan to improve life in the nation, while feasting on some roast or boil banana, roast breadfruit, and salt fish!
Hahahahahahahahahahah!
It you all custom!
The governments stance is: we appreciate our teachers very much but we can’t pay all you properly because after we pay ourselves more then properly there is nothing left in the kitty for all you. But please continue to vote for us, after all we give you world class entertainment, bad rum and burnt chicken wings absolutely free of charge. No other government would do that.
You want to appreciate them, pay them properly and give them the day off instead of forcing them to come listen to your self congratulatory back slapping
It’s very obvious that the current regime places zero emphasis on education. Healthcare too. If teachers (and nurses) were paid a decent wage then perhaps they would care, learning by rote went out with colonialism.
Some teachers can’t get the 3 students in their class to scholarship at common entrance. Not that they even care to show up on time to teach them. Yes, the parents should show some dedication to assisting their offspring progress at home, teachers are not miracle workers.
We need qualified teachers and nurses, but who will come here for the peanut shells on the table.
Make all the noise you want but raise the salaries so qualified persons will apply.
Lastly do something about the deplorable length of time it takes to get a work permit, if ever.
It is not enough to give out a shout out to teachers on World Teachers Day. It is not enough to eulogize teachers and say how noble their profession is on World Teachers Day. If they really believe that teachers are at the “heart of educational response” then they need to start walking the talk. His Excellency’s case should be re-directed to the powers that be with an urgent request to stop the unnecessary political interference in schools and to please stop screening out qualified candidates in favour of mediocre party candidates.
Well put! Deeds over empty, flowery rhetoric every time would suffice. It’s not what you say but what you do that counts.
Juanita, how could you make the mistake of associating EXCELLENCE when referring to Mr. Savarin? It’s like being sacrilegious.
This charlatan is just attempting to enamoured himself with the teaching fraternity. Teachers cannot live on sweet sounding empty promises and lies, action matters more.
Here is this guy who is living the best time of his life from tax payer’s money, and the resources of the STATE. He has been in the highest office of the country for many years. Throughout his present tenure teachers are overworked and underpaid. They live in subtle poverty but are often call to give of their best.
Now, in order to grab the spotlight on World’s Teacher Appreciation Day, he comes with just lip service. He has not once used his voice nor his enormous position of influence to advocate for the betterment of these beleaguered nation builders.
ACTIONS speak louder than WORDS. Your fanciful words, Mr. President, won’t raise the standard of living for not even one teacher.
So you trying to tell me mr president that it took you all those years to make such a comment. I think you should go back to school because your thinking is 6 years to late as the president. You just singing for your supper, that comment coming from your mouth has cost the taxpayers 30k a month.
Oh he can still open his mouth?
I didn’t see any case the Hypocrite Charles Savarin made for teachers in Dominica. Savarin’s message was focused on teachers around the world as seen here: “the aim of celebrating World’s Teachers’ Day is to focus on assessing, appreciating and improving educators around the world”. Not one single time the Hypocrite Charles Savarin mentioned Dominica teachers by name and what the slave master is doing to them. In fact the closest the Hypocrite Savarin got to addressing the plight of teachers in Dominica was when he again blamed the failures of the government on Erika in 2015, Maria in 2017 and covid 19.
DNO if the Hypocrite Charles Savarin made a case for teachers in Dominica you sure didn’t highlight it in this article