Teachers are the backbone of the educational system. Their role is to transfer knowledge to the children and shape them to be persons of character.
The basic problem of the school system could be linked to shortage of qualified teachers. The state is now faced with a crisis. The qualified teacher/students ratio has been one of major concern. The crisis between the teachers and the state is not best solved by dismissing teachers. Teachers are indispensable. How a nation handles its teachers will determine how much regard is given to students. Gambia cannot afford losing trained teachers.
What is expected is for the GTU to reach out to the executive of Teachers for Change, which appears to be a spontaneous association of teachers, to discuss the major concerns of the teachers and formulate a bargaining position with the Minister of Education to find a lasting solution.
Every crisis requires an interlocutor. The GTU should not take a spontaneous association as an instigator but should instead regard them as their own. In that regard it should take leadership by accepting that within its ranks there will always be differences of opinion on how teachers’ problems are to be addressed. They should seek to take a middle ground that would unite the most active members and those who are temperate in their demand for a solution to their problem.
