A new remuneration package and agreement for other incentives is expected to be signed between the Bharrat Jagdeo administration and the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) later this month, a top official of the union told this newspaper.
This new agreement is expected to include not only an increase in salary for teachers, but new incentive plans from which teachers will be able to benefit. The initial agreement unveiled in 2006 will end later this month.
One of the incentives to be included in the new agreement, which is still being discussed, is duty free concession, which is expected to include, for the first time, deputy head teachers. Previously, only head teachers with five years or more of service remaining benefited from this concession.
Another area is the housing loan development plan, which is expected to expand to include more teachers being able to access the facility.
The GTU, government and commercial banks are working out a plan whereby teachers can borrow up to $2 million to help in their home construction.
This plan, although being negotiated for some time now, has not gotten off the ground. Recently, the GTU was pushing for the loan to be interest-free, something which the government and the banks could not agree to.
Further, the new agreement is expected to include ‘passage allowance’ for teachers who have been assigned to schools in rural areas. Uniform allowance is also to be included in the pact.
The 2006-2010 agreement had involved a five per cent per annum across-the-board increase for all categories of teachers; a one per cent of the wage bill as a performance-based increment per annum for eligible teachers; increased remuneration for teachers who have improved their qualifications; an annual clothing allowance of $6,000 per teacher; one-off duty free concessions for vehicles for 100 head teachers per year; a housing revolving fund of $40 million per year for 2006-2010; that is, $200 million by 2010 to facilitate construction of houses for teachers and a 25 government- sponsored scholarships per year for teachers at the University of Guyana.
General Secretary of the GTU, Coretta McDonald said over the years, the union has endeavoured to represent teachers’ rights and has been working along with the Education Ministry in helping to improve the conditions under which teachers work.
McDonald noted that, in doing so, GTU has been faced with several challenges that arise year after year, but despite these challenges, she said, the union has been able to show its true strength in undertaking its responsibilities.
According to McDonald, the GTU is therefore calling for greater partnership with the Education Ministry in ironing out issues that affect teachers.
She explained that the education sector cannot achieve its goals as set out by the government unless the union is included. “Too often, people look at the GTU and the MOE as though both parties are always at war,” she stated.
She pointed out that if teachers realise that the GTU and the ministry have a good working relationship, and an interest to work together in improving the education sector in Guyana, everything else will fall into place.
However, McDonald said, ever so often, the ministry sends mixed signals as to its intention to really forge a genuine partnership.
McDonald told this newspaper that changes and improvements to the sector cannot be made without government trying to secure its highly trained and qualified teachers. She stressed that since the new academic term of 2010, the GTU has recognised that there have been teacher shortages in schools countrywide.
The union’s general secretary pointed to the fact that several teachers migrate annually in large numbers, which is known.
McDonald noted that the issue of teacher migration, which has been a burning issue especially for Guyana, is still on the increase. She said that despite this, nothing is being done to secure these highly qualified professionals.
Guyanese teachers have recently been seeking employment in Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos Islands.
“We need to stop burying our heads in the sand, because there are some things we are not doing right that are causing our teachers to leave this shore”, she said.
McDonald believed that Guyanese teachers are even leaving for jobs in devastated and poor countries like Botswana and Haiti. She disclosed that she was aware of some Guyanese teachers who are even now working in those countries.
She said that teachers in Haiti are escorted by military officers from their homes to their respective schools and back home. “ If those teachers are prepared to exist under those conditions just to earn an extra dollar, rather than living and teaching right here in Guyana, you can tell how uncomfortable teachers are in their own country,” she noted.
For years, the most qualified and experienced teachers have been leaving Guyana’s shores for better employment opportunities, where they receive value for their services. Many of those same teachers have majored in Mathematics and Science subjects. Added to that, in most recent times, there has been a decline in the performances of Guyanese students sitting these subjects at the National Grade Six Assessment ( NGSA) and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate ( CSEC) examinations.
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