During his weekly press conference, Member of Parliament Pieters brought forward another strong point, focusing on criticism regarding what the Government calls Phase Two of educational reform. According to Pieters, while the Government paid a lot of attention to the salary aspect of Phase One, little or nothing is known about the subsequent phase. “Everyone heard about Phase One. But who knows what Phase Two actually entails?”
PPA questions where the concrete plan for professionalization, guidance, and continuous development of teachers is.
In Phase Two, the Government was supposedly going to continue working together with SIMAR and SEPPA on salary restructuring. What the Minister of Education must understand is that more money alone will not ensure that teachers can provide quality education. Of course, more cash at the end of the month is welcome, but work must also be done on teachers’ security, in addition to opportunities for professional and salary growth within a more simplified structure that encourages teachers to provide quality education. It must be anchored in our laws that a school and its board must ensure a cyclical Human Resources process. So that a teacher and principal can receive necessary guidance, be motivated, and be evaluated every year or every so often to qualify for a salary increase and, even more, to be stimulated to provide quality education.
According to Pieters, if the Government does not invest in the person standing in front of the class and at the head of a school daily, no reform will achieve the result the people expect.
PPA does not just want to criticize, but wants to contribute At the end of his press conference, Pieters lamented that repeatedly the PPA faction uses its instruments in the Parliament of Aruba by sending questions and requesting committee meetings with the Minister of Education, but does not receive the answers or openness the party expects. According to Pieters, the objective was never to create confrontation. “We want to be part of the solution, because with education, development, and the formation of our children and youth, one must not play politics.”
Pieters emphasized that, due to his own experience in education, he is willing to contribute with ideas, knowledge, and experience to improve the quality of education in Aruba. There are many plans on the table—plans supported by the educational field and even by those who work directly or indirectly with education. “What is lacking in the AVP-FUTURO Cabinet is the courage to take action.”
It is good for the Minister of Education to meet with stakeholders It cannot be that the Minister of Education is not meeting with SIMAR and SEPPA regarding phase two of the salary restructuring, let alone talking to school boards. He as Minister of Education is ultimately responsible for education, not his collaborators. It is always good for the minister to keep them close as allies because they represent the teacher/educator of Aruba. Furthermore, they can influence the implementation of any reform successfully, Parliamentarian Pieters concludes.