Members
Parliament
Transparency

N. H. Cole Simons

1424
Speeches
165,822
Words Spoken
83
Sittings Active
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
11 words
I will continue because that just does not warrant a response.
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
157 words
Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, we are in the 21 st century and we have to basically have international teaching standards. And I believe that we need to do more to improve the standards with the input of our teachers, with mentor teachers, we need to have high per forming teachers and we have to have programmes …
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
5 words
—for teachers and admini strators.
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
53 words
That gets to my point. If we are talking about education, a key component of edu-cation is the teacher. And the teacher should have as much prominence and priority as the students and the plans. And, so whatever you do in the first year — Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of clarification.
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
30 words
—somewhere in there should be a plan for the development and support of our teachers. POINT OF ORDER [Imputing improper motives] Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order —
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
5 words
Thank you, thank you. [Laughter]
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
6 words
Thank you very much. [Inaudible interjections]
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
109 words
But as he said, if this was important for education, teachers should be having more prominence in the first year of the PLP Gover nment. If you believe that this should be part of the strategic plan, you can say in your Throne Speech, Teachers, we have not forgotten you, we are working with you in the strategic plan and …
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
12 words
So, he can talk about his manifesto all he wants. [Inaudible interjections]
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
7 words
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker — [Inaudible interjections]
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
3 words
Mr. Speaker, this—
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
103 words
Mr. Speaker, as the Minister has just indicated, the strategic plan is not f inished. The strategic plan is still developing. So, how can one say this is what we are going to provide the teachers with in the strategic plan when it is currently being drafted? It has not yet been finalised, so how can he get up and …
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
48 words
—nothing has been presen ted to demonstrate that the teachers have been a ddressed at this point during the Throne Speech debate. It has been silent and we will assume nothing, and that is why I am presenting this issue the way I am presenting it. [Inaudible interjection]
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
633 words
Mr. Speaker, the same thing applies to our principals. We want to support and we encourage the Government to support our principals. We want to encourage them to embed service standards throughout their schools and the departments. We want perf ormance goals, and we want to ensure that those schools are run with efficiency and that the teachers are accountable …
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
5 words
No, I am not —
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
103 words
Because I am explaining what happened. We had an agreement in principle with Bluewave, and the Government and I had charged the Ministry of Education to draft up a contract so that it could be final. When I left, that contract had not been completed. And so, yes, I agree that there was no contract; but there was an agreement …
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
53 words
As I said, in business, before you enter a contract officially you have to have an agreement on something, and an agreement in princ iple on what will be covered in the contract. And, so, as I said — Hon. Diallo V. S. Rabain: Point of order. There is no agreement in principle.
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
145 words
Now, let me m ove on to a nother point. So, I am not going to waste more time trying to repeat myself because it is taking up my time. The other issue that the Minister just raised is that there was no Internet policy or Wi -Fi policy in school, and that is what he was w orking on, …
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
21 words
No, you have had your time. I am continuing, because I do not want to run out of time. [Inaudible interjections]
15 Sep 2017 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report
5 words
Not right now, thank you.