Teachers' college learns a lesson

Teachers' college learns a lesson

(Dec 9, 2005)

Here's a story with a happy ending: Cecilia Imunu won't lose her teaching job. That's the good news -- for Imunu, for her students, for her school and for the community at large.

Here's the not-so-good news: Imunu is keeping her job at St. Mary's High School in Kitchener only because of intense public pressure that was brought to bear upon Ontario's education bureaucracy. Had Imunu's fellow teachers, and her students, and the parents of her students, and local politicians, and the media not rallied to her defence, she would, in all likelihood, be out of a job.

Here, briefly stated, is the background: Imunu is a Sudanese refugee. She speaks seven languages and holds four university degrees -- two of them master's -- from the University of Khartoum in Sudan, the University of Wales, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Toronto.

She has all the educational background required to teach in Ontario and is well respected at St. Mary's. The problem was that Imunu could not actually produce her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Khartoum, which she earned in 1979.

The diploma is in Sudan and Imunu felt that she could not return to Khartoum to retrieve it without putting her life at risk. The University of Wales, from which Imunu received her master's in education, verified the existence of the degree, and even provided its serial number, but that wasn't enough for the Ontario College of Teachers, which certifies educators in this province.

The college wanted Imunu pulled from the classroom. It was only after the buildup of public pressure that Imunu's case was finally placed last week in the hands of the college's top official, registrar Doug Wilson. He gave the Imunu file a few days of consideration and then ruled that she could teach in Ontario.

So, yes, in the end, the news is good -- for everyone. St. Mary's gets to keep a fine teacher and Imunu gets to keep her job. The teachers' college now appears satisfied that all the "i's" have been dotted and the "t's" crossed and life at St. Mary's goes on.

But even so, this case has its troubles -- and at the heart of them lies a teacher-certification bureaucracy that lacked the willingness to see beyond its nose. The rigidity with which the Ontario Teachers' College dealt with the Imunu file suggests two things: that it wasn't even remotely prepared to accept the word of a respected teacher of long standing and that it had absolutely no idea how the issue might ultimately play out in the public mind.

The college ignored that at its peril because what students know, and what parents know -- and what educators know -- is that great teachers are hard to find and just as hard to keep. They do not show up on your doorstep every day looking for a job.

The teachers' college tried to hinder Imunu. It tried to keep her out of the classroom. A more enlightened, open-minded bureaucracy would have tried to help.