[Communique] Reported to be submitted to PSEA

Report to be submitted to PSEA

The Union is in presence of information concerning pressure being put on Educators to submit a report to PSEA. The Union is of the view that:

1. There is no standardized system established by the Ministry of Education in Secondary Schools as Educators are using their own means which they find appropriate to help students. Thus, there is no uniformity in the approach and any report cannot bring any relevant outcome.

2. The system put in place is only a tool to avoid students to be completely cut off from education and is not a state of formal tutorial. More so, the system is not equitable as it sidelines a group of students who are from the most vulnerable groups. As the programme is only befitting a small group of students, any reporting will be clearly misleading.

3. The programme cannot even be considered as a trial in the absence of a standardized format and has not been pretested. Any pedagogical programme should be devised on pilot basis and the reliability and validity should be known before its implementation. Therefore, it is irrational to prove how this report will be benefitting learners in any cognitive, affective and psychomotor aspect.

4. Educators cannot be asked to give names of students who have not followed lessons, because the reason of their absence is not known and thus educators cannot become a means to further discriminate them. Is this report going to punish those who have no means and have not been provided with any ICT tool or those who are not conversant with ICT tools?

5. We do observe that the COVID 19 Pandemic brought about an unexpected situation, and Educators have given all the necessary support to students. Instead of thanking educators for their goodwill and collaboration, they are being pressurized and coerced for no reason. More so, when reporting imposed by the PSEA is of no importance and devoid from any pedagogical purpose.

6. Finally, we also note that QAD has not brought any significant contribution in the advancement of the education system and now they there becoming a means to coerce. Therefore, the Union urges the PSEA to stop harassing, pestering and annoying educators for reporting when they are already doing an arduous work. The Management Committee UPSEE