‘Mantoetse Maama
MASERU — Lesotho Teachers Trade Union (LTTU) General Secretary, Vuyani Tyhali, said there is need to address the shortage of trained teachers in the country. Tyhali was speaking during the Teacher’s Day celebrations commemorated yesterday in Maseru.
This year’s theme was “A call for teachers” which, according to Tyhali, reminds the education sector to improve standards of training for teachers and the teachers’ responsibility to provide quality education and contribute towards a better nation.
“For the teachers to be able to provide quality education they need to undergo quality training. In the current case we have some unqualified teachers in our schools and that can compromise the quality of education.
“It would be difficult to achieve our goal, which emphasises the provision of quality education,” Tyhali said.
He said although teachers’ contribution in empowering the nations should be appreciated, untrained teachers should be trained while qualified teachers need continuous training to meet changing trends. Speaking at the same event, The Progressive Association of Lesotho Teachers (PALT) president, Letsatsi Ntsibolane said this year’s theme calls for all countries that have shortage of teachers to prioritise boosting training intakes.
Ntsibolane encouraged the government, through the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), to employ more teachers not only to address a challenge of unemployment but also to respond to the challenge of teacher-pupil ratio.
“The newly introduced integrated curriculum by MOET requires a teacher to teach fewer students in order to attend to all of them effectively and efficiently. However, with a shortage of teachers at some schools and also lack of adequate resources, the standards and quality of education are compromised.”
Speaking on the new schools curriculum introduced early this year, Ntsibolane said there is need to continuously train teachers to ensure its effective implementation. The Minister of Education, ‘Makabelo Mosothoane also urged teachers to closely assess their work and work on weaknesses to improve the standard of teaching.
She said it was only through strengthening of teachers’ capacity that the country could see schools delivering high quality education and improved performance of pupils. Addressing the issue of the integrated curriculum, Mosothoane said her ministry has seen the importance of continuously training teachers and also providing adequate resources for schools to properly function.
“We are going to provide teaching aids and also ensure continued support to all teachers.” She added the shortage of teachers at most schools situated especially in the highlands, is currently being looked into with the hope that more teachers would soon be deployed at affected schools.
“Despite some challenges, I urge all teachers to remain committed in serving Basotho by being truthful to your work and students and also collaborating closely with parents,” Mosothoane said.
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