• Unions dismiss English medium schools as only for a certain ‘socio-econ. class’

Plantation sector trade unions suggested that teachers for estate sector schools should be recruited from among the estate community itself amidst promises from the Education Ministry to hire graduate teachers, and an India funded teacher training programme.

“People from the estate sector or Malayaga Tamils should be trained after their General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Exam and they should start teaching after they complete a teaching exam,” the Voice of the Plantation People organisation’s Executive Director Anthony Jesudasan told The Daily Morning yesterday (27). 

“Otherwise, if we give these positions to people from other parts of the country, they will only stay for a short period of time”. Jesudasan said that employing teachers from the North and the East or Tamil-speaking Muslim teachers have resulted in them staying only for the short term or seeking transfers to their hometowns.

“A lot of schools in the rural areas face a shortage of teachers. Aside from the big schools in the cities, a lot of schools in the hill country are in poor condition where there are no teachers for subjects like mathematics,” Jesudasan said.

Taking into account the poor conditions and the lack of teachers in estate schools, sectoral trade unions expressed their displeasure with certain initiatives such as commencing English medium schools in the estate regions. Jesudasan said that such an initiative would only benefit those coming from a higher socio-economic background while it will not be practical for students coming from lower economic backgrounds to study in English schools.

It was reported that in order to solve the lack of teachers in estate schools, the Ministry has started to recruit graduate teachers and teaching assistants. Teacher training in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects has meanwhile been funded by a grant of Indian Rupees 750 million, in order to address the lack of teachers in the plantation sector. 

Efforts by The Daily Morning to reach the Minister of Estate Infrastructure Development, Jeevan Thondaman proved futile.