The Education Sector Research Group has urged the government to formulate a Human Resource Development Plan to train and hire teachers and other school staff in the midterm.
The research group made the statement in its report on identifying issues facing teachers in the education sector. In the report, the research group noted the developments in the education sector of other countries and stated that Chile increased participation in teacher training programmes by 39%, by raising the salaries of teachers and providing teaching scholarships to exceptional students from 1990 to 2002. Therefore, the research group stated that it was important for the government to provide scholarship opportunities for positions in the education sector that are seeing a low number of applicants, similar to the scholarship opportunities provided for the health sector and accounting field in 2021 and 2022.
The research group advised the government to introduce a presidential scholarship scheme for exceptional students interested in teaching and working in the education sector, and to conduct career-guidance programmes at schools to increase interest in the education sector by allowing students to join internship programmes. It also highlighted the importance of encouraging the participation of parents, local councils, and women’s development committees in these initiatives.
Additionally, the research group stated that the standards for teachers that complete their courses have dropped due to issues in formulating and conducting the courses. The issues included allowing participants that fit a lower set of criteria to join the programmes and allowing them to graduate without fully completing the courses and hiring them for teaching jobs despite their low passing scores. The research group proposed to fix these issues by raising the criteria for entry into training programmes, formulate a national standard for teaching competency, and conduct an audit on teacher training programmes.
The Education Sector Research Group was constituted by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to identify issues facing teachers in the education sector. The President’s Office published the findings of the Education Sector Research Group earlier this month.