South Paramaribo public school teachers no longer favor the “going to school every other day” schedule. They think students are falling behind in the subject matter since they have to keep going over it with the kids when they arrive at school every other day. Simply put, they struggle with the lessons.
They also discovered that because there is no daily consistency in this approach, the children do not comprehend the subject matter. When a class needs to accommodate more than 43 people, the issue becomes challenging. Due to the small size of the classrooms, it is currently by trial and error that all pupils are able to attend class.
Additionally, because the schools aren’t very huge, there aren’t any additional classrooms that could be used. It is not the objective of the schools to constantly deal with big groups. According to Natasia Bennanon, director of Administrative and Technical Management (ATB) at the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, when working with large groups, students might attend class every other day (minOWC).
The COVID-19 circumstance called for the utilization of small groups. Students attended school every other day in some schools due to their timetable. According to Bennanon, it is no longer possible to clear the educational backlog that has accumulated.
She makes reference to the backlog that has accumulated since COVID-19 through the present, which spans more than three years. Our goal is to modify the curriculum. Math and language are becoming the main areas of emphasis because of this. The additional topics are included. It is now tailored to you,” she says.
It is chosen to keep the large courses in order to ensure the daily uniformity of instruction. Teachers reportedly told the media that they would still deploy 43 students in a lesson if they had to.
The minOWC, however, recommends that teachers deal with fewer students or organize them into groups. Teachers who wished to remain anonymous acknowledged that working is challenging.
They said that some kids don’t even know how to read or write properly as a result of the new method. They stated that the system is flawed. Additionally broken is the flow system. The new system is not well liked by the kids, according to the teachers, who are not against advances.
In actuality, it seems as though kids have advanced to the following grade. The subject matter from the previous year must be covered again because they have not mastered it. Because transfer students cannot keep up with the new subject matter, people are left behind with the new material that must be taught in the current year. For us, the situation is draining.
What steps should we take next with these kids? Teachers are perplexed. The maximum number of students per class was set by the government at thirty. Bennanon claims that the ministry is still being cautious because COVID-19 cases are increasing. New variations are also available.
