The Teachers’ Association is calling on government for immediate action on “critical education issues” now that the legislature is open for the fall sitting.
Union President Dale Lambe has written Education Minister Paul Dinn about the teachers shortage in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, but he has yet to hear back.
Peacock Primary in Happy Valley-Goose Bay (Google Maps)
Schools like Peacock Primary in Happy Valley-Goose Bay currently have six teaching vacancies. Lambe says not enough is being done to address the issue.
He says right now they’re using “band-aid solutions” like finding retired teachers to fill the gap.
Listen to “NLTA President Dale Lambe speaks to VOCM’s Mahalia Ardis” on Spreaker.
“These are temporary fixes. That’s not a long-term plan, and this is the government that was elected with the promise that they were going to look at education long-term,” says Lambe.
“You can speak about all the issues in the house, but the future of the province really depends on education, and we’re getting very little focus right now.”
NDP Leader (and former NLTA President) Jim Dinn questioned the education minister during Question Period yesterday.
NL NDP Leader MHA Jim Dinn (VOCM News)
The NDP Leader questioned how the Premier intends to make good on election promises to deliver “real inclusive education, individualized supports, small group instruction and student assistants to every child that needs them” when “he can’t even properly staff schools?”
Minister Paul Dinn says they have “5217 teachers in the system, 267 itinerants, 1371 regular substitute teachers, 698 retired teachers…this year the number of hours allocated to student assistants in the schools has gone up.” He says they now have a workshop coming up in Labrador to recruit teachers to areas that need them.
