Teacher tells colleagues to take job seriously

By ABIGAIL APINA
AN elementary school teacher in East New Britain has challenged other elementary teachers in the province to take teaching seriously.
The woman teacher, who does not want to be named, has been teaching for more than 10 years at a local elementary school in the province.
She said it concerned her that after teaching for so many years many elementary teachers did not take teaching seriously.
She said that had affected many young children at the elementary level and
resulted in many young students not being well prepared for primary school.
She said many elementary teachers did not take students’ assessment seriously.
She said they often gave discretionary grades to students and that such an approach would not benefit the children.
She said many elementary teachers failed to begin classes on time and that left students doing nothing while
waiting for their teachers.
“Teachers often fail to implement what they have learnt in short courses conducted by the Education Department,” she said.
“Elementary school teachers have to be well educated, there should be an institution in
the country designed to facilitate proper training.”
She said many elementary schools in the province lacked proper teaching and learning materials.
“Some teachers who truly have the heart to teach use their own money to buy teaching materials,” she said.
She said Kuanua (Tolai) language was strictly used in elementary schools in the province in past years and it helped the young students to read and write quickly.
However, she said the language could not be used at elementary level anymore because today’s teachers did not know how to use the vernacular correctly.
“Teaching in vernacular is not a problem, it is the way teachers teach,” she said.