Education Minister: Ghana Teachers Will Get Same Benefits as Bahamian Educators

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – 300 hundred Ghanian teachers will be heading to public school classrooms this fall, and according to Education Minister Chester Cooper, their contracts will have the standard benefits shared by Bahamian teachers.

Cooper addressed the issue as he spoke to reporters ahead of today’s cabinet meeting at the office of the prime minister.

Chester Cooper – Minister, Education

“Its going to be a standard process of recruitment and standard contracts, these foreign teachers would be aligned with the same benefit packages that Bahamian teachers would receive. They will stay as long as they’re needed. I indicated that this has been a decades, old issue, and we are going to be very methodical in how we resolve it….”

It’s no secret that The Bahamas has faced a shortage of teachers, and Cooper says it’s an issue that the Davis administration is addressing.

According to the education minister, the recruitment process was fair and transparent, and says that they looked to fill the gaps with qualified Bahamians, before looking outside the country.

Despite this, it has sparked outrage and pushback from the Bahamas Union of Teachers.

Chester Cooper – Minister, Education

“There’s never been sufficient teachers in the school, I’m a product of the public school system, we’ve always had a shortage of teachers, this concept that something is wrong with bringing foreign teachers is really foreign to me.“

“Since as a child forty years ago, I could recall having teachers from Nigeria, Jamaica, Barbados, USA, Scotland, UK, Canada so this is not a new concept for the schools in The Bahamas.”

As for their ministry’s relationship with the Bahamas Union of Teachers, the education minister says there’ve been talks, and he expects there’ll soon be a resolution to an ongoing back and forth over an industrial agreement.

Chester Cooper – Minister, Education

“We already executed the agreement for BECO, we are close to completing the agreement…but we already agreed for most part financial terms of pay, etc. with the B.U.T., and that negotiation is progressing…..last week in fact we reached out to the B.U.T. to continue those discussions.”