The Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) is close to finalising a new arrangement for the disbursement of loans, under the housing development revolving fund that was inked with government since 2006. General Secretary of the union, Coretta McDonald in an interview with Guyana Times International on August 16 said that teachers should be able to access these loans, as soon as next week. According to her, the issue was slated to be discussed at the level of Cabinet.
McDonald noted that discussions surrounding the housing fund were done on August 16 during Cabinet’s meeting. Education Minister Shaik Baksh will, however, meet with the union to disclose what the results of that meeting were and give a possible solution. In a recent discussion at the level of the Education Ministry, a joint letter was dispatched to Office of the President.
The letter entails details on the union’s position, as it relates to the disbursement of these loans and how it should be handled.
The union says it will remain firm on its position, not to have any teacher pay interest for the loans. This was the original arrangement made between government and GTU. McDonald went on to explain that the letter addressed to the president pointed to a new idea, which the union has researched for itself and could possibly work out to be the best solution. She revealed that the union understands that the finance ministry usually manages funds similar to that of the housing revolving development fund. It therefore requested that the ministry manage the project.
GTU says it is confident that the decision on the Gy$200 million housing development fund will be made in their favour. McDonald pointed out, however, if favour is given to plan, teachers will still have to provide the necessary source documents that the banks were asking for. This is to ensure that the project continues and other teachers will have the opportunity to access these loans.
These teachers will, however, have to be selected by the union.
The union official explained that initially when the agreement was inked, GTU moved to meet with different banking institutions.
All of the banks responded to the union’s call to help disbursing and receiving back the money, allocated to teachers listed to benefit. However, the banks had proposed various interest rates of 4.75 per cent and 4.25 per cent.
The union, she said, was not in favour of the proposal since government had indicated its intention to assist in this process, which would allow for loans to be disbursed at no cost.
McDonald, however, admitted that the issue took both the GTU and government a long time to resolve, which should not have been the case. She said it was not the union’s intention to delay this process further, but explained that all the necessary arrangements had to be made to ensure that the project was done successfully. The GTU has said that such incentives and benefits will help to keep Guyana’s teachers here, rather than leaving these shores.
Under the 2006 to 2010 package, Gy$40 million was to be placed into the housing fund annually for the life of the agreement, putting the total allocation at Gy$200 million.
The union has already shortlisted some 100 teachers, who have been waiting years to benefit from this agreement.
