PHILIPSBURG--Given the shortage of educators in the country, Education Minister Jorien Wuite urges school boards to start their recruitment of educators for the upcoming academic year in a timely manner.
In an invited comment on concerns expressed by the Windward Islands Teachers Union (WITU) about the shortage of teachers at primary, secondary and tertiary education levels, Wuite said teacher shortage “has always been a challenge.”
Because of the shortage, St. Maarten has to sometimes rely on immigrant labour for the teaching sector. “That means you need to emphasize the importance of campaigns to express the importance of this profession. The school boards also have their own respective responsibilities in recruitment of their staff including teaching staff. They are funded for it,” she said, adding that recruitment fees associated with getting teachers to the country are covered.
“Through our regular monthly meetings between the school boards and the Department of Education, we can explore possibilities or express any type of needs where the ministry needs to step in, but at this stage recruitment is ongoing for the new school year for 2018-2019 and I would like to encourage school boards to start on a timely basis so that we can take stock of the outcome of their recruitment drives to see if any additional measures are needed to secure the quality of the education system through availability of well trained teachers,” the minister said during the weekly Council of Ministers Press briefing on Wednesday.
