MoBSE PS Says Teacher Shortage Delays Full Rollout of Technical Education Policy

By Fatou Sillah

The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Louis Moses Mendy, says a shortage of qualified technical teachers is hampering the full implementation of a national policy designed to introduce students to technical and vocational education from an early age.

Mr. Mendy said the revised curriculum is intended to help students identify their interests and abilities while still in school, giving them an opportunity to develop practical skills alongside traditional academic subjects.

Under the policy, students are expected to begin receiving exposure to technical and vocational education from Grade Four, with the goal of helping them better understand their skills and interests by the time they reach Grade Nine.

“The challenge in maximizing the implementation of that policy is because we need the teachers first to be able to teach this in all the schools,” Mr. Mendy said.

He said the education system needs qualified instructors in areas including carpentry, metalwork, technical drawing, auto mechanics, and refrigeration before such programs can be offered widely across the country.

The shortage, he said, has also limited the government’s ability to make certain technical subjects compulsory, as it has done with civic education.

Mr. Mendy said similar staffing constraints have affected plans to make French compulsory in schools, noting that the government must first have enough qualified teachers to deploy nationwide.

He said the technical education policy is intended to apply to both public and private schools because the need for skills development extends to children throughout the education system.

To address the shortage, Mr. Mendy said the government has introduced incentives, including full scholarships, to encourage teachers to pursue training in technical fields. But he acknowledged that significantly more qualified personnel are needed.

The government has also established five technical schools in different parts of the country, he said, though shortages of specialized teachers have prevented the institutions from being fully utilized.

“If you don’t have the teachers that will go and teach metalwork or technical drawing, it is as good as not even establishing it,” Mr. Mendy said.

He said recruiting and training more technical teachers remains critical to fully implementing the policy and ensuring that students across the country are exposed to technical and vocational education beginning in Grade Four.