Latest update April 1st, 2025 5:37 PM
Teacher was unfairly disciplined – GTU President
President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Colwyn King, has said that the treatment meted out to the teacher at the centre of the Berbice High School flogging incident is unfair, as the entire procedure used by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) to conduct the investigation is totally fraudulent.
President of GTU, Colwyn King
Kaieteur News had reported that the TSC had reinstated the teacher, Jeanne Jeffrey, following a hearing held on Thursday at the TSC’s Brickdam, Georgetown headquarters.
However she will not be eligible for promotion until the next two years.
Ms Jeffrey, who has been off the job for almost three weeks, became the centre of an investigation after she administered three lashes each to 28 of the 31 children in the class.
The situation came about after the teacher handed out an assignment to the class on January 29. The task should have been completed by February 5, but only a few students met the deadline.
The teacher then administered the flogging, breaking the rule set by the Ministry of Education as it relates to corporal punishment for students.
King, in an invited comment to Kaieteur News yesterday, said ‘principle’ was not adhered to as it relates to the situation, as he still maintains that an earlier investigation was conducted into the matter, and it was agreed by all parties that, although the teacher was wrong, she acted with good intent.
However, according to King, Education Officer Shafiran Bhajan failed to truthfully report to the ministry the outcome of the investigation.
“I am really perturbed that there is no sort of honesty within the Ministry of Education. The TSC will now have a difficult time to work along with them,” King told this newspaper.
He explained that the officials who conducted the first investigation seemed to have ‘wasted their time’, since the findings were not recognised.
King added that the truth of the matter was never told the TSC.
In this regard, he added that the incident that transpired at the Berbice school is very damaging to this country as teachers will now take a different stance on a number of issues.
He explained that GTU will now go to every school in the country and will ensure that teachers work according to the regulations stipulated, and, if the regulations are not in order, then the GTU will push for the Education Ministry to make certain that the conditions under which teachers have to work are conducive.
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