Glitches in teachers’ multi-year

President Donald Ramotar on Tuesday evening assured teachers that his government is committed to fulfilling the teachers’ multi-year package and to fixing the glitches that have dogged the process.

Speaking in the presence of the re-elected Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) President Colin Bynoe and other stakeholders at the union’s third biennial delegates conference in Berbice on Tuesday, Ramotar said some of the unresolved issues experienced in the pact will be ironed out.

“I know there are some concerns regarding the housing revolving fund and I am prepared to have the relevant subject ministers examine and resolve this issue forthrightly,” the Government Information Agency (GINA) quoted Ramotar as saying.

The memorandum of understanding that was sealed between the GTU and the Education Ministry in April 2011 caters for annual salary increases for teachers, incentives for improved academic qualifications, duty-free concessions, University of Guyana scholarships, Whitley Council leave, among other benefits. Signatories to the agreement were then Education Minister Shaik Baksh, Permanent Secretary Pulandar Khandai, GTU President Colin Bynoe and GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald.

The accord was regarded by President Ramotar as one with great predictability and stability within the system that eliminated the need for the yearly negotiations as had existed in the past.

Last month, the GTU head led a delegation to President Ramotar’s office, to engage him in discussions relating to some of the impending aspects of the deal, and also to get his participation in the delegates’ conference currently being held in New Amsterdam.

The conference includes a packed agenda that will feature reviews and proposals by the various GTU branches and the exchange of ideas for greater benefits and working conditions for teachers.

Chief among the proposals is working in partnership with the Education Ministry in the interest of delivering quality education in Guyana.

Addressing the delegates drawn from across the country, President Ramotar stressed the need for continued partnership between the government and the GTU in the interest of teachers, whom he described as “vital stakeholders for national development”.

“I wish to acknowledge the role of the Guyana Teachers’ Union and their stewardship in representing the interests of teachers. My government has enjoyed good relations with the union and, together, we have achieved a great deal for teachers in Guyana.”

His message to the GTU and teachers across the nation is that the ruling administration regards them as an indispensible resource to national development and, that they can count on the government as a friend.

“Teachers are the purveyors of knowledge, teachers nurture the minds of those who will eventually shape the nation’s future… without teachers, our people skills, creativity, and self-discipline would be malformed,” President Ramotar said.

The phenomenon of female domination in the education system did not go unnoticed in the president’s speech, and he called for a remedy to the disparity. He reiterated the policy of his government on universal access to secondary education, and urged teachers to recognise the role they have to play in meeting this goal, even if it involves a heightened campaign against truancy. There was also a call for redress to the shortcomings of which teachers are often guilty.

The president gave some accounts of cases where students are compelled to take extra lessons because of the inability of teachers to complete the curriculum and other cases where students are under duress to complete their School Based Assessments (SBA) and at the same time study for examinations.

He made it clear that extra lessons must not be compulsory and that education must be administered holistically with the arts and sports, being an integral part of the curriculum.