TCI Resignations Impact

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

Students in the Turks and Caicos Islands will be short of 15 teachers this year as 13 have already indicated they will leave before September’s opening date, and two more are set to leave during the school year, increasing the number from the initial ten that resigned in late August.

Director of Education, Mr. Edgar Howell explained,  “As a result of what is going on in the world, the Turks and Caicos Islands has been impacted by resignations. To date, there are 15.  The opening of school will be impacted directly by 13, the other two will leave during the school year, which will give us the opportunity to have those positions filled or to have temporary appointments in them.”

Deputy Director of Education Mark Garland hinted that the resignations had come suddenly, describing them as “unforeseen”.   As a result of those unforeseen resignations, the education ministry won’t be able to start school with a complete complement of staff.

“In situations such as these, efforts would have been made to employ teachers on a temporary basis until we are able to fill those vacancies via the recruitment process.” he said.

The unfortunate aspect of the recruitment process however is that it can be lengthy, because of the significant number of steps involved.  In addition to that, Garland said even after a suitable candidate has been identified, individuals may reject the offer, forcing the ministry to restart the process.

The TCI is not the only country suffering from resignations; Jamaica and the United States have reported hundreds and thousands of gaps respectively.

In a previous press conference, Minister of Education Rachel Taylor had indicated that the gaps were specialized teachers, including home economics, science, and mathematics.  All three representatives assured that the Ministry is working as quickly as they can to fill the gaps

Permanent secretary in the Ministry, Wesley Clerveaux, told residents not to be alarmed at the vacancies, stressing that they had substitute teachers in place that they could call on to provide support in the meantime.