Emulate the Ministry of Education

May 28, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,
I was quite surprised at the level of efficiency, competency and professionalism at the Personnel Division of the Ministry of Education on Brickdam, Stabroek in downtown Georgetown.
As a teacher visiting from East Berbice along with other colleagues, we were tended to right away and in the most expeditious manner. I must say that the service at the Personnel Division has improved drastically in the previous years.

The office spaces are not opened anymore. Each cubicle caters for privacy, not to mention the air-conditioning. And last but not least, the employees there are most mannerly. On the upper-flat of the building, we also received people-friendly service. We were directed so easily on how to fill up an application form and given further instructions on how to proceed after.
I wish, though, that whenever Guyanese visit other offices within the public sector, the same treatment can be meted out to them.

Many places in Guyana, even stores and businesses need to have better customer-friendly staff, who can deal effectively with all types and kinds of people. We are surely lacking in this arena even here in Berbice. Many a time, persons are ‘handled’ by other people in offices, stores, post-offices, and other places where a service is needed.
And with the nice treatment we received at Personnel, we got the exact opposite at a teacher- training institution just minutes after.

I urge the Ministry of Education to look into this matter as my friends and myself were not pleased at all at how we were treated — or mistreated for that matter — by this person who is supposed to behave professionally because that person is employed in the field of education in Guyana. I used to always hear about this individual, but now I had first- hand experience in dealing with them and saw first-hand at how they deal with people even their own staff members.

I was most disappointed that my first interaction with this individual did not go too well. This person seemed grumpy, on edge and downright rude to us, and we were made to understand in a non-verbal manner, that, that person is like this to any and everyone on a daily basis.
Guyana cannot tolerate such persons who hold these positions.
Whatever happened to the criterion of ‘people- friendly’ skills when applying for such positions? But then again, people do change.

Perhaps in no other field more than in Education do people interact on a larger scale with other people.
An administrator is supposed to put personal feelings and bad habits aside and deal properly and courteously with fellow educators and more particularly other people.
I would like the Ministry of Education to talk to this person and ensure better treatment for visitors and students in the future. This is an ideal case of a principal with no principle.
Leon Jameson Suseran