Official bemoans teachers' skills

Official bemoans teachers' skills

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: The head of the provincial
education and culture office, J. Cornelius Mbeo, said here
yesterday that 89.3 percent of the elementary school teachers in
East Nusa Tenggara are unfit to teach as they lack the necessary
academic qualifications.

According to Mbeo, out of the 27,648 elementary teachers
teaching in 1,892 villages or subdistricts, only 2,941 have the
required qualifications.

"That's why we're getting as many of them as possible to
attend special teaching classes so they can have an equivalent
credential to a diploma," he said as quoted by Antara.

There are an estimated 611,950 elementary school children in
4,033 schools in the province.

Despite the deficiencies, he argues that the process of
education has been relatively successful in the province, evident
in the fact that 80 percent of elementary school children
continue on to high school. (mds)