The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minister Chester Cooper said he has launched a drive to recruit as many as 100 Bahamians as the government races to plug a 300-teacher shortage before schools reopen in September.

Mr Cooper appealed yesterday to recent graduates, former teachers and retired educators to enter or return to the classroom, declaring: “Your country needs you.”

The Ministry of Education is also pursuing teachers from several countries, including Ghana, as it scrambles to prevent the shortage from leaving students without qualified instructors in critical subjects.

“I want to be clear that yes, we have invited all countries to assist us with filling the 300 gaps, but we are hoping that we are able to get a cross section of diverse professionals by discipline and by country,” he said, adding that 42 applications had been submitted to the Public Service Commission, with 27 already received by the commission.

Mr Cooper urged Bahamians with expertise in mathematics, science, the arts and trades to help train the next generation as the ministry accelerates recruitment ahead of the new school year.

“We're accelerating the process for all of our applicants, as you would imagine, recruiting Bahamians is likely to be a faster process than recruiting foreigners,” he said.

The recruitment push has drawn fierce scrutiny since Ghana’s foreign affairs minister announced last week that The Bahamas was prepared to receive 300 Ghanaian teachers this year.

Bahamas Union of Teachers president Belinda Wilson questioned how the government could negotiate the recruitment of foreign teachers “in minutes” while failing after ten months of talks to secure salary increases for more than 2,000 Bahamian educators.

Mrs Wilson also criticised the government for failing to brief the union before the announcement emerged from a Ghanaian official.

She said teachers were still waiting for money owed to them, including rent allowances, while some people who graduated from the University of The Bahamas in 2025 had yet to be hired by the ministry.

Mr Cooper acknowledged that communication may have broken down and said the lapse would be corrected.

He pointed to a June meeting at which the Bahamas Union of Teachers and the Bahamas Educators, Counsellors and Allied Workers Union both recognised the teacher shortage as a major concern.

He said the ministry would continue working with both unions throughout the recruitment exercise.

Mr Cooper described Ghana as “enthusiastic” and “exuberant” about helping The Bahamas secure teachers, but stressed that the government was seeking recruits from a range of countries and disciplines.

He insisted the recruitment of foreign teachers was not designed to displace Bahamians, but to ensure every child had access to a qualified educator.

All international recruits would undergo a thorough vetting process, he said.

Asked about teachers awaiting salary increases, Mr Cooper said salaries and benefits were covered by industrial agreements now in the final stages of negotiation.

The minister recalled attending high school in Exuma without science or music teachers, saying the government had a duty to prevent other students from enduring the same gaps, even if that required recruiting educators from overseas.

Among those answering the ministry’s appeal is former teacher Shantell Taylor-Neely, 50, who has more than 16 years of experience in education.

“This is still my country. I train all over the world, but when it comes to the education system, I know the impact that I can make simply because I've been impactful from the start,” Ms Taylor-Neely said.

“It's the future of the country to have an educator in there who cares. It's not the dollar value because you're not going to get paid for what you what you're teaching, but it's the impact.”

The Bahamas’ recruitment struggle unfolds against a worldwide shortage of educators.

A UNESCO-Teacher Task Force report found that teacher shortages have fuelled larger classes, overburdened educators, educational disparities and greater financial pressure on education systems.