THE University of the West Indies is planning to train more teachers to the degree level through its distance learning programmes across the region, according to deputy principal of the Mona campus Joseph Pereira.

This decision is in response to a series of consultations in the various territories where the institution’s distance programmes are offered, which showed that the need for upgrading of teachers throughout the region, Pereira said.

The consultations were done in the 12 territories of the English-speaking Caribbean which do not have UWI campuses, and at which courses are delivered remotely.

The deputy principal was speaking last Friday at a luncheon at the Medallion Hall Hotel in St Andrew in honour of the first batch of 65 teachers to complete the Bachelor in Education Secondary [Distance] Programme at Mona.

“The faculty [of Humanities and Education] sees immediately that this project can be expanded. The more students you have in a particular programme the lower the per capita cost.It makes it more viable economically, while at the same time we are answering the clearly expressed needs of these other countries”, Pereira said.

The deputy principal commended the group for completing their degrees in three-and-half-years, and for the low dropout rate from the programme, which he said was below the campus average. This, he said, was the case even though the dropout rate for distance learning programmes was generally high.

He also noted that 14 of the students achieved first-class honours -which was again above the campus average.

Assistant chief education officer Tertiary Unit Ministry of Education and Youth, Philbert Dhyll, urged the graduates to at least serve their three-year bonds in the public school system.

The graduating class had eight teachers specialising in computer science, nine in history, one in physics, 13 in mathematics, 26 in language/literature, two in biology, and five in spanish.