The Tribune

By PAVEL BAILEY

THE president of the Bahamas Union of Teachers says that Patrick J Bethel High School in Abaco still desperately needs more teachers, about a month after staff held a demonstration on the island.

Belinda Wilson said while some teachers have been dispatched to Abaco to address the teacher shortage, the local high school still needs ten more teachers.

“Approximately three weeks after the teachers, parents and even students staged a demonstration at Patrick J Bethel High School in Marsh Harbour, Abaco because of a teacher shortage, they are still awaiting ten teachers,” Mrs Wilson said yesterday.

In response to questions about the ongoing shortage, Director of Education Marcellus Taylor said the Ministry of Education has addressed some of the issues on the island, allowing Patrick J Bethel school to move from a virtual to a hybrid teaching model.

“We have addressed this issue several times and indicated that we have deficits which are being addressed. We were able to address some of them which enabled the school to move from virtual to hybrid,” Mr Taylor said.

While Mrs Wilson acknowledged that the ministry had dispatched four teachers to the Patrick J Bethel in the month since the demonstration, she said there is still more work to be done on the island.

“There were four supply teachers who are retirees who are at Patrick J Bethel and they are teaching and we are grateful for their service, but the remainder of the teachers are needed and they are needed now,” she said.

She said the school requires four teachers for English language, three for mathematics, one for physical education, one for social sciences as well as a guidance counsellor.

“The teachers returned to the classroom in good faith and they are doing their best, but the remainder of the teachers are needed and within the group there is still a guidance counsellor that is needed,” she added.

She also said even though the school has returned to a hybrid model recently, only grade nine and grade 12 students have fully transitioned back to full face-to-face learning.

Even though Mrs Wilson recognised that these grades were prioritised in order to prepare them for upcoming national examinations, she said the Ministry of Education needs to work swiftly to get teachers to Abaco.

“The plan that the ministry had was for Patrick J Bethel to return to full face-to-face, however the grade nine and the grade 12 are the only classes not still on the hybrid model. So we impress upon the minister of education to work swiftly to get teachers at Patrick J Bethel High School in Marsh Harbour, Abaco.”