Secret report slams teachers
(CNS): A report based on an independent review of local schools is believed to reveal a catalogue of problems, not just with kids’ behavior but over the standard and quality of teachers in Cayman. The report, which was published in November 2012, has remained under wraps in the education ministry but its existence and some of its contents were revealed by the opposition members during Monday’s Finance Committee when Tara Rivers, the education minster, was in the hot seat. According to the limited details revealed during the proceedings, the report includes a shocking condemnation of teachers who are failing to make the grade and are themselves behaving badly.
Teachers were reportedly being negative, indifferent and dismissive towards students, using sarcasm even with primary school children and humiliating them. Teachers were described as being overly aggressive in their manner with their students and failing to understand the learning needs of their students. The report allegedly reveals significant disparities and inconsistencies in the quality of teaching throughout the local system and even, in some cases, within the same school.
The existence of the report was first raised by the opposition leader, McKeeva Bush, but during the questioning of the chief officer in the education and employment ministry, Mary Rodrigues, and other staff, it became apparent that the East End member, Arden McLean, had a copy of the report.
Confusion mounted, however, when it was revealed that there was a second report, which appeared to be a review of the original report by a member of the ministry staff who appearedto have altered the findings of the original author. Also, the original eight pages of recommendations to address the myriad shortcomings in the education system had been reduce to a page and a half. Described by Ezzard Miller as a possible “sanitized version” of the original, the members pressed for an explanation.
Although Rodrigues implied there were some concerns about the evidence to back up the findings of the original report and a review was undertaken, she was not sure of the details. The education civil service boss said that the final report she had been given was different to the two which members appeared to have brought to the committee. Admitting she was unsure as to what had happened, she said she would determine the series of events and find out about the different reports.
Meanwhile, Rivers noted that when she took up office as the minister she had asked staff to review how many of the recommendations from that original report had been implemented and where gaps continued to exist in the system. She told the committee that it was this report that had formed the basis for the new behavior strategies that would be implemented in the schools, starting in the new academic year.
McLean questioned why the report and its damning allegations had been “kicking around” since the end of December, 2012, when no one knew about it or what had been done to address it.
Rivers said the 2012 report and the review conducted this year would all be made public following Finance Committee but she said some of the matters in the 2014 review of the report were dependent on the budget and the plan was to publish all of the reports together.
The members of the committee raised their concerns about the recruitment of teachers, the policies surrounding where they were coming from and the background checks being done. They also asked what was being done about improving the quality of staff now that so many issues had been raised.
Rivers acknowledged the criticisms but she said it was being addressed with performance management and a focus on ensuring that the policies set down by the ministry were actually being followed through at the school level. Ministry staff also spoke a lot about strategies, expectations and continuums but were vague about the actual accountability over inadequate teachers.
With no fixed date for a release, CNS has submitted an FOIrequest and is making enquiries about getting copies of all of the reports and reviews and will publish all the documents as soon as we have them.
Category: Politics
Education begins at home. Look there for answers.
Nothing will happen to the CO, but the top officials will make a promise that it will never happen again…
An aspect of this whole mess is the continued secretive nature of life here in the Cayman Islands. It seems to be ingrained within the culture here to keep secrets.
It is funny and ironic to hear the word transparency thrown around during election time but it is really only hot air be it from either party or the independents.
Caymanians love their secrets.
We learnt this from our colonial masters who perfected the art of secrets!
Although true colonial masters had an excellent and expensive education.
What a foolish comment. The usual perception is that nothing is secret in Cayman. Governments everywhere keep secrets, and if it is a potentially damaging report of doubtful quality that should indeed be kept under wraps.
Hey CNS. Maybe you can contact Dr. David Moore directly. As the public purse paid for the consultation, we should also be privy to the information, not just the report, because who knows which is the original.
He was brought in by the former Chief Policy Advisor for Education, who was probably instrumental in the cover-up, as soon as it painted the true situation of the education system.
At the METE you have very few people with a vested interest in our students, and a lot of people driving around in high end cars. The money on them is not well-spent. It seems very similar to Reagan’s trickle down policy…..the education funding left after the big METE salaries trickles down to the classrooms and students. Similar I guess to Marie Antoinette's let them eat cake idea.
To the commenter who quotes statistics (someone on the METE payroll I presume). It is all smoke and mirrors. They are adding the CIFEC retakes into the passes and that boosts the percentages….not the “pretty on paper”, but unimplemented, unsupported, unrealistic METE policies….. We need to get the government out of the education system, run it like a business….get charter schools run by private organizations.
Look at how long the people in power (not Tara or Winston now) have been in power. Is it any better? If they are disseminating false information, isn’t that grounds for firing? I know it’s super hard in the civil service to get rid of anyone, but come on now….isn’t that high level corruption? I am sure the Minister and councillor were given the doctored report. Off with their heads!
Actually Cayman is late in allowing the retakes and including the final passes in the statistics. every other country does this and we were only allowing students to take exams once. However if you look at what education has provided it is clear that overall the total number of passes including first time exam takers is improving.
I am thankful that my child is now out of the schoolsystem. Having gone through both govt. and private schools. Whilst there were several wonderful teachers who truly had a gift for teaching and loved their students, there were far too many who were prejudiced, lazy and could not even speak or write English properly. They favoured kids from their own neck of the woods and ridiculed local children. They had almost the whole class failing a certain subject at one private school and of course it was always the students' fault, no matter that some had started the year with excellent grades. I could write a book on how the management of that school tried to cover up the fact that this teacher's students were all failing, even the top students and how they took it out on the child of the parents who dated to call a meeting of all the parents to try to get some help from the school. And always, the kids are blamed. They know when someone doesn't like them and is being unfair and a lot of students will act up when faced with an adult, who has a duty of care to the students, treats them in such a way. I'm glad that these situations are being exposed and hope that someone has the courage to do whatever it takes to fix the situation so that our young people leave school with a good education and are able to compete in the job market. I also know plenty of kids who had trouble at school and managed to get good enough grades to go to University in spite of their situations. Its odd that many of them are excelling at university both here and abroad. Makes a huge difference when the quality of teaching improves. I think there are many kids who just drop out because they have no one to help them when they are struggling at school.
Who commissioned the report? If the Ministry commissionsa report to inspect and analyse teaching. learning and behaviour then surely they must understand that there will be both positives and negatives contained therein.
On what basis was the inspector chosen?
How much did the report cost?
If, after the inspector spending a significant period of time observing practice, meeting with staff and reviewing paperwork, policies and statistics firsthand, it was felt that there was still a lack of evidence to back up the his findings was he still paid?
Was this apparent lack of evidence queried? Who decided the evidence was lacking? Can they prove it? Were the contentious issues challenged, and counter-evidence provided, before being dismissed?
Does the Ministry/Department have the evidence to prove that the information in his report is unfair/incorrect? Will this be demonstrated in the public forum?
Who made the decision to alter an independent, commissioned report because the negative aspects highlighted serious failing within the system? Does this suggest that senior figures are manipulating data, and providing false information, in order to cover up their own failings, and protect their vested interests, and to hide the fact that the changes that are needed are not being addressed?
Were the inspector's report recommendations discussed with him before the decision was made to delete 6 and a half pages of them?
Can CNS contact the inspector for his views?
Who actually re-wrote the report? Did they undertake further school inspections?
Why/How does Mrs. Rodrigues not know what is happening in her department?
How many failing teachers have been removed from the system since the idea of a failing teacher was mooted (albeit evidently not acknowledged)? What is the process for removing an under-performing teacher? Is it the same in all schools? Is the performance management process impartial? Obviously, a short-term contract holder can be non-renewed, what of a permanent teacher? Can CNS request the data on the number of staff who have been removed from post because of performance issues (breakdown temporary v. permanent teachers)?
Was HR aware of report?
If the report was 'buried' could one assume that it was not used to inform the recruitment drive for the 2013-14 school year? Has that cohort of personnel been evaluated? How successful have they been? We already know one left prior to starting. Has the report had any bearing/influence on recruitment this year? Did the report contain any recommendations in this regard?
What is the retention rate for teachers like? Will there be a shortfall of personnel in September (based on the number of contracts currently signed)?
Given the extremely strong condemnation apparently levelled at teachers – what has been done on a whole-school level to ameliorate the situation? Senior management has changed in some schools…has this made a difference?
What have the Senior School Improvement Officers (as the managers of the Principals) done to better the situation? How many staff training sessions have been provided by SSIOs, in each school, in light of this report?
What CPD has been provided for teachers? Clearly classroom management is one of the biggest deficits island-wide…of all CPD provided since November 2012 by the Department/Ministry…what percentage focused on classroom management? Did this need go ignored like the report did?
If this report was hidden, were schools even made aware of who performed strongly and who under-performed in the inspection?
Is it true that the Ministry lay the policies down but the Department enact them? Are they both now on the same page as regard policies and expectations for the 2014-15 school year (or do they both remain on pages 1 – 1.5 and not the deleted pages 1.5 – 8)?
Have results gone up because students can 'have another go' at CIFEC? Do the figures compare like-for-like or have the statistics been manipulated (like the report) to make things look better than they are?
Some serious issues around safeguarding pupils and staff have come to light in the media this academic year – how many other issues of misconduct, and inappropriate staff/pupil behaviour, have been covered up like the report?
Did any of the recommendations in the report pertain to child protection and safeguarding issues which, if ignored, potentially have left children vulnerable for nearly 2 years?
Might release of the report and, therefore, open dialogue have prevented some of the more serious misconduct cases that have been reported? This is speculative obviously. Often it is said hindsight is a wonderful thing; this report should not be hindsight.
Was the previous Education Minister aware of this report?
Are the personnel who were complicit in the covering up of serious failings within the system going to continue to be protected by Minister Rivers?
Here's an idea. Stop promoting failed teachers to positions with the Education Department/ Ministry. The places are crawling with them.
Correct, 20:33! That has been going on for over 30 years which is why the Education Department for years was filled with useless no hopers who had to be gotten out of the schools but because they were Caymanians they had to be "promoted" to the department.
Well, just because someone can't cope with 23 bad students, doesn't mean they cant be a wery good admisntirator.
I hope nobody believes that the Chief Officer for the Ministry of Education didn't see the original report. It's pure BS for her to claim she had no idea that the version she presented was different than the original. Utter crap.
Let the spotlight focus on the senior civil servants in the education ministry. Clearly they are the constant players witha different political party in power over the last 4 or 5 administrations.
Clean them out and get some new civil servants within the education ministry.
16:28, the talent pool is very shallow if you insist on appointing only Caymanians so it's hardly worth while making any changes.
That means the exact opposite, that it is entirely necessary to make changes, especially according to criteria.
Who at the METE is Caymanian – other than by paper?
Out of all the principals on Cayman – only two are Caymanian by birth. Obviously this is not a case of Caymanians being promoted up and being incompetent. That seems to be a cop out, which does little to solve the problem.
The paper is a big problem but the true Caymanian CEOs contribute to the problem in a huge way by protecting their incompetent staff. If the in-fighting between the Ministry and Department stopped, and there was a clear-out of all those personnel at very senior levels who are completely inadequate in their roles, things could change.
Paper = Caymanian unless you are a bigot.
Paper = Caymanian unless you are a bigot.
or
Paper = Protected status/complacency/laziness if you are a realist
You know it never ceases to amaze me how simple we can all be. Please watch the proceedings or get the hansards when they come out. the chief officer was given leave to go research the matter and return. she presented documents to the committee and gave a full explanation towards the end of the proceedings in the night session. CNS article is written on only half the story. and of course she was unshure about the reports… someone leaked the repots to the opposition and we are all amazed that the version leaked was obviously not the final version. I dont give right where it isnt desrved, but please see all the facts people.
Something wrong with you of wa, the final version was the one that was sanitized, in other words the poo poo in it , they put perfume on it. KApish.
If you believe for a second that the chief officer didn't know about this report you are a salesperson's dream!!! There are at least 3 versions of this report and you know that no civil servant would risk their JOBS to re-write a consultant's report without the explicit directive from the upper management. Even if the c.o. was in the dark, then she needs to go too because clearly she's lost control of her subordinates.
stop making excuses for mediocrity!!!
I hate to burst the bubble of negativity but the Cayman Islands Education system has been getting steadily better and better. Look at the results – in 2005 only about 20% of students graduated with 5 or more good passes, last year 70% did. The ministry, department and schools' inspectorate in their various guises have introduced a nationalcurriculum, primary international baccalaureate, numeracy strategy, new schools, CIFEC etc etc. Give credit where it is due. Of course teaching still needs to improve further, but it must be a lot better now than it was 10 years ago because the kids are doing loads better. Stop bashing the teachers!
Look at the results in detail. Look at which parts of the system that the improvements have come from. Look at who is responsible for that.
And what are these passes doing? And what passes are these? What good is having 5+ passes if you can't pass English and Math??? Our kids are drowning!!! Instead of addressing the problem we are covering people's asses!!! Heads should roll for this!!!
I was gonna say lets hope those passes are graded externally and independently so we can trust them. but then i remembered so was this report.
Blaming teachers will not fix the system. The biggest problem still persist and continues to grow; the focus on recruiting top-ranking officials at the Ministry level to assess, create policies, and yes, conduct assessments and write reports. Take a look at the many reports and policies created over the last few years with a long list of actions to be taken. How much have been accomplished? Look back over the years and you will realize that this has been the feature of the system for many years and has resulted in nothing but frustration for the local schools. Haven't we learnt enough from the 2005 Prekash and Hepel fiasco? What is the impact of the open space learning and future schools concepts? The future is now and where are we? Everybody comes with their own perceptions of what is good practice. As a result there are frequent changes in policies, resources, strategies and expectations. Nothing ever gets enough time for assessment of effectiveness. School principals appear to have less autonomy over the running of the schools and teachers are now been forced to more or less accept anything from students in the name of "psychological theories". And then we wonder why the behaviour in schools is going downhill. Perhaps we should start recruiting these policy advisors, behaviour specialist and other so-called experts as teachers. Put them in the classrooms for a term and let us see the "miracles unfold before our eyes". When will education leaders truly value teachers and those at the heart of the system? When will they listen and give them a chance to do the little things that make the big differences?
It’s about time this matter came to light. Children live what they learn and with kids spending 8 hours (or more) a day with teachers who speak to them and treat them like dogs, you can't expect them to turn out to be any better. Children cannot be held accountable for the bad lessons that are being instilled in them by these bad apple Teachers. Teachers have a responsibility to their students as parents have to their kids. They should be setting examples and molding our children to be model citizens.
XXXX
I hope this matter explodes and brings about a positive change.
Can you explain how the students are treated like dogs?
Listen these kids have parents also. We show model behaviour all day and as soon as they go home they see mom and dad having sex or going home to be molested by dad or uncle bob.
Your view is crooked. School is not a baby-sitting agency. Do some homework and then come back.
Caymanian ex-teacher.
I'm gonna call bs on this statement. Stop passing the buck on and become more accountable for your children.
So we pay our elected leaders, chief officers excellent salaries yet we are dilberately failing our school children.
We are failing as a society.
Sadly this administration is falling into the same boat as the one they accused other Govt of, lack of transparency! It is so unfortunate that we now have a slew of these stories where Govt or thier officials claim to not know and yet, surprise, there is proof that they knew or should have known. And how ironic that it is Mckeeva that is exposing them. Its too much. Alden, Kurt, Ezzard, Arden and Mac have been doing this game for far too long it seems. Heres hoping that we can find some new fresh faces without egos and real integrity. BTW integrity is not just about not stealing but its also changing path when you realise this one isnt the right one and acknowledging it as so….
Teachers in Cayman's public schools are under-paid, under-resourced, in many cases under-qualified, and are not supported by the Ministry when the proverbial hits the fan.
Is it any wonder that many of the best teachers leave (20% turnover, I believe?) and, consequently, that many of those who remain arethe less successful ones who would struggle to find work elsewhere.
There is a real, genuine scandal trying to break out of this story, in that a damning report has apparently been suppressed by the Ministry. If that's true, someone needs to be fired.
Of course, the state of Cayman's education system as a whole is a scandal, so we shouldn't really be surprised.
Teachers in Cayman's public schools are paid better than their private school counterparts for the most part.
Alas, that is no longer true.
They are paid much better than the private schools
Maybe so, but it's still not a real living wage for such an expensive place to live
If you treat people like animals, they will behave like animals. The Education Department has treated it's teachers as such for a decade or more and now the chickens are finally coming home to roost.
If you had to take your own toilet paper to work, buy yourown supplies with which to teach the children of the Cayman Islands, have your pay frozen for 15 years resulting in being compensated less than inexperienced new staff, be managed by incompetents who have been put in postions based solely on the entitlement culture that has been allowed to fester for years, etc, etc, etc, what would you do?
Try having a child that suffers from ADHT at 6 years old. They want them on medication and when the time comes they don’t know how to handle so he gets only 2 full days in class. He graduated from year one last year and was in year 2. And then they tell me that he is below year one. I would like Savannah school to be investigated has you can see the level of unprofesslalim. A real disgrace. You can’t always only blame the students. Please continue to expose this cover up. Again. Respect begets respect.
When I was a kid nobody had ADHT, they were kids behaving as kids and not all kids behave the same. Our modern society is fanatical about apply labels as an affliction and so becomes an excuse for a failing system. If parents parented and teachers taught we would be far better off. Too many parents discharge the responsibilty of parenting to teachers.
And now that you are an adult no one still has ADHT!!!
I think the writer of this reply needs to tell the whole story………………………………….
hmmm there is no such thing as ADHT…might wanna get your childs needs correct first???
I have had to deal with a very abusive teacher, even taking actions into my own hands when things got soo terrible, I decided to write the then Minister for Education, Mr. Angling, however, I did not even receive an acknowledgement of receipt of my e-mail attaching the said letter. I was eventually contacted by an individual from the Education Department who willingly sat with me and allowed me to express my concerns. The outcome? I am just happy that my child is now out of the school system, however, that same teacher is still there and nothing was or has been done. Actually, she was awarded "best teacher" some time back. Mytake is most of the teachers here are only here for the pay. As long as they can terrorize the students with suspensions, detentions and the parents with numerous complaints about their child/children, that is really all that happens. This whole Island is a mess, thanks to good governance! NOT!
This is just a reflection of the society we live in and it starts at the very top.
1. We hear of good governance however if we had a concerned governor exercising good governance this could not happen. I blame the governor more than i blame anyone else as it is his / her responsibility to hold people accountable.
2. The elected officials with responsibility for education have not done anything for 20 years but experiment on the children of these islands. The Cayman Islands is a unique place and we require unique solutions to our problems. One solution is to cater the education system to satisfy the jobs on islands. I.E. teach the following subjects as a class, Banking, Administration, Accounts, Tourism, Customer Service, Aviation, Law Enforcement.
3. A technical program is needed for people who do not want or can not manage an office job.
4. The school is full of children who should not be in a normal environment. Students who are bipolar or suffer from autism or have learning dissability should not attend class with normal students. They are normally disruptive and hard to manage and tend to cause trouble for everyone else. Identify these kids and place them in the proper environment where they can get the help needed. Also dont take no from the parents who try to hide the problem.
So don't prepare any children for education…the very sector where the issue lies and where there is such a shortfall of numbers?!
As for your proposal to keep the 'normal' children together…quite what would your provision for the 'abnormal' ones look like? What would be the qualifying criteria to get in there? Any learning disability at all – do you want all the children with dyslexia for example removed from mainstream school?
Let's face it we've lost the schools and this will take a decade to fix if we start now. Heaven help us as the current group of children leave school. There are lots of good kids but with Cayman's growing social problems and an education system that is currently sub-standard it will be a bumpy ride for a while and a large # of school leavers are not fit for any job.
Good luck Ms.Rivers! You going to need it.
Why give a poor performer a decade to fix the job, better policies could be in place in 1 month and reviewed in 1 year. Heads need to roll at all levels, especially at the top.
Agreed. Cannot read – summer school. Still cannot read – repeat year. Still cannot read – stay in school until 18. Bring back some responsibility!
You know if it was a UDP administration a copy ofthe report would have been found under the windshield wiper blades of Ezzard's truck and the report would have been clucked on Tuesday talk radio.
Can't you read? Arden had a copy of the real report. Also, this report was given under the UDP administration.
Actually it was a UDP administration. The report was published in 2012 which was under the UDP watch.
Seems like Rodrigues needs to keep better notes at her meetings, and not just vague perfunctory and obfuscating detail.
Rodrigues is the key to all of this. XXXX She should have been replaced when the PPM came into power and I don't understand why they lost their nerve on that one. There's still time to clean house, Tara. Be brave and the people might start to respect you. You have a free shot here. Use it now and use it wisely.
You're lucky she kept those untidy notes at all.
This country has gone to the dogs, nobody cares or gives a shit!
She hired the best from UCCI, Oh Lord, we are all in trouble now.
Keep digging. There's much, much more to this story. The Report by Dr David Moore was supressed because it told the truth and caused panic in senior ranks because of that. Dr Moore is a respected expert who saw the issues in the system and identified the solutions. A lot of what he suggested has been totally ignored because people at Ministry are pig headed, vainglorious and insecure about their own abilities. A lot of heads should have rolled because of this. Unfortunately, these heads were the ones that comissioned and received the report. Those people denying they know anything are the ones who know the most.
He also found some very good, positive, successful things, believe it or not, and these haven't been celebrated or promoted because they highlight the negative issues even more and don't fit into the narrative that the Government wants to spin.
I hope the truth will out finally, to vindicate those who have worked hard and above and beyond the call of duty to improve the life opportunities of young Caymanians and to shine a light on those who have actively obstructed them. And, as you won't be suprised to know, the opposite is true of what the common belief is.
This is one of those ministries where people have gotten too comfortable and refuse to make any changes. It is beyond me why the minister has not let go of certain people and set a tone that makes the rest of the employees there sit up and take notice! But as usual let us just get on with it as usual to the detriment of the entire country!
This looks like a chicken and egg situation here. IIll-disciplined students frustrating teachers who become negative and eventually do not care. The system enforces no discipline so how are teachers to teach and be motivated. Be careful here to see cause and effect, and do not use this "report" to start condemning teachers, many of whom have struggled for years to get results in the face of adversity.
And what about the original report being "sanitized"? That is typically what happens in the civil service when a report threatens to rock the boat! I have been there and seen it. Once the high ups get an idea of your findings, they put pressure on you to water down the "rock the boat" parts, and want your "report" to be a fraudulent diluted version that threatens nobodys' job. That's how they operate.
Where is the accountability for professional integrity here? Let us have the original report along with the sanitized version, and see who was the "sanitizer" trying to cover up the facts as usual. Someone should be held accountable for the alterations to the original report. WHISTLE BLOWERS, WHERE ARE YOU?
By the way, well done Mac and Arden. Expose it!
Why is it thAt we continue to cess out these unforgiving situations and no one is held accountable. It's time for a real clean up of the EDucation Department.
Accountable? What is that?
You mean the Ministry of Education. Most of the Department of Education Services personnel have been moved to the ministry. Can we say, 'Micro-management'? I would dare say the Chief Officer does know exactly what's going on.
Just send your kids to private school if you love.
Its the same in private schools too! There are many teachers who don't give a damn about their students and are uninterested in helping them especially when there are some who need extra help and attention!
The biggest problem in public schools is lack of resources and activities. Do they even still get the chance to go on educational field trips and such? Come on. Most of these kids are bored doing math all day when it’s his hope to be a mechanic. Identify these childrens talents/dreams etc… and place them in trade classes that they would want to show up for. Not everyone wants to fly a spaceship.
Right. I definitely agree. BUT for the children that want to fly a space ship – would they have the solid foundation to begin to achieve that goal in a one of these schools? I'm not saying all teachers are bad but it only takes one drop of poison to spoil the pot…
Mechanics use math all the time! What size wrench do they need to loosen a bolt? How many sizes and shapes of bolts? They calculate torque in foot/pounds. Plus they constantly deal with two different numeric systems: metric and American. A mechanic that knows his math is invaluable.
Sounds like they use just good old plain common sense then, huh? After middle school, subjects such as math should be an option (or requirement for the trade chosen if necessary). No need to bore kids with subjects that don’t interest them. We’re wasting not only their time but also that of the teacher! If a child is better at English, science, art, drama, Spanish, or even sports, focus on their talent(s).Many many world leaders had basic education and came out with great common sense. And with technology leading the way, we better act fast or the need for teachers will be only be for a few. Even toddlers are learning from iPads now.
Wow. “Strategies, expectations and continuums”…. Sounds like someone whitewashed the accountability + inadequacy.
Whats new, the education system have been failing our children for the last 20 years.
Yes there are good children and good parents yes they succede only because their parents get involved and demand from the education system and themselves only the best.
Unfortunatly the majority of children suffer from social and econimic failures of the policies in place and lack of parental involvement. ?????????????? sad but true. NOW LET'S FIX IT ONCE AND FOR ALL.
FORGET about getting re-elected, do the right thing for all our future and these Islands.
Since the garrison politics have entered (political parties) this country we have gone backword,
prove it is not so , bet you cannot, I graduated in the 80's and could do basic mechanical repairs, wood work, masonary and a bit of plumbing, electrical, read and write etc.
Kids today cannot even start a lawn mower, wash or iron their clothese, progress what progress????????????????????????.
Why would you need to do any of that stuff (lawn mower etc) that is what Hondurans, Jamaicans and Filipinos are for.
Today's Caymanians shouldn't have to do any actual work, this is a wealthy educated society like Switzerland.
Are you an idiot?
Don't feed the troll.
Wow .I think it is about time that some civil servants heads role. This is becoming an every day occurrence with them disobeying rules, lying and now altering documents…Who are the Ministers and why aren't they cleaning house?..
Not where are the politicians. Where is the Deputy Governor who is responsible for Civil Servants and to whom Chief Officers directly report?
This Chief Officer probably got a sterling report last year and the year before and the year before that. However, here is word/possible evidence of a most damning report on the education system. We keep promoting people way beyond their competence. We keep confusing academic achievement with one's potential to lead and manage. Obviously one does not equate the pair.
This will be another waste of time. It's good that these apparent maneuverings have beenexposed but the Deputy Governor is unprepared to do anything about this or any of the other exposed coverups (that oxymoron). We continue to live in hope. Oust the whole lot in the ministry. Start from scratch. Same with that scandal at CIAA and the one at ministry of Planning etc. Out! Out! Out! Spots!
people can get away with it if they are smarter and more eloguent than their superiors.
How long has Tara been in office???? Do you really think this just happened? This has been happening for years and government is now noticing the problems with teachers and students. That is why we have so many children graduating that can't read or write properly and really become nothing but a burden to society!!!. The parents are also to blame, for don't they check when the child comes home their school work, even teenagers parents have a responsbility to ensure their child is doing homework….but look at it this way…quite a few boys come to school with their pants down to their ass, shirts to big…who are buying the uniforms? Mama or Daddy who is probably a thug himself I think it is a little to late and I can't see a way of fixing the problem unless they take a COMPLETE turn around and instill discipline and make the parents also accountable!
I am happy this is comming out. When some of the children want to take on the teachers in the school, every teacher ganged together and was blaming the students. The children was telling the truth about being abused in many schools. Thank God it is leaking out. I have seen this happening in the schools but one person speaking out was not going to help. They are doing exactly what the report says and more.