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GTU finds fault with final teachers’ promotion list
– TSC Chairman urges union to share concerns in writing
The fact that teachers who are attending the University of Guyana (UG) have been promoted by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) is in contravention of the rules that govern the promotion process.
Consequently, the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) has found fault with the final teachers’ promotion list which was recently unveiled by the TSC.
This disclosure was made on Monday last by GTU President, Colwyn King, during a press conference held at the union’s Woolford Avenue headquarters.
GTU President, Colwyn King
King also said that the union has not failed in its mandate to share its concern with the TSC. Some of the concerns he disclosed were identified in the preliminary promotion list but yet remained in the final list, although they were brought to the attention of the Commission.
He explained that based on the rules that govern the promotion process, a teacher cannot be eligible for promotion if he or she is released to attend the University of Guyana.
But according to King, “We have found that persons who have been released officially by the Ministry of Education to go to UG have been appointed in more than one instance.”
Based on the GTU’s perusal of the final list it was observed that teachers who had broken service were also promoted in contravention of the promotion rules, King said.
As such he noted that the union has once again sought to bring the issues to the attention of the TSC in order to ensure that only eligible teachers are ultimately promoted.
“We have the final list here with 452 appointments. I don’t want to point out the names of the teachers implicated because at the end of the day, we do defend them too…We defend teachers across the board.”
TSC Chairman, Mrs Leila Ramson, in an invited comment, yesterday, noted that the union has not forwarded in writing, any concerns about the final list to the Commission.
She speculated that even if the union President had spoken with a staffer within the Commission she has not been so informed.
TSC Chairman, Leila Ramson
Ramson explained that the panel of Commissioners tasked with preparing the promotion list was meticulous in undertaking the tedious process, utilising only the criteria for promotion which was defined in newspaper advertisements.
And according to her, if the panel was aware that teachers on the final list were ineligible, measures would have been put in place forthwith to rectify such revelations.
“If the union president is aware of teachers that are ineligible he needs to let us know. He has not written to us so that we can investigate and see if the TSC made a mistake, or if somebody is just making allegations,” Ramson mused.
The Commission commenced the review of a preliminary promotion list last month which entailed members of the panel responsible for the promotion perusing teachers’ files and application “with a fine teeth comb,” according to Ramson.
That process she disclosed was necessary to detect any discrepancies which suggest that another teacher had more points for a particular position, resulting in the appointment being revoked from the initially identified teachers.
She related that of the 801 positions that were applied for, 60 appeals were made, which the TSC as part of its duty analysed scrupulously.
Detailed among the appeals was the fact that some teachers that were identified for promotion on the preliminary list had not made available certain crucial information to the panel.
She noted that the Commissioners were informed through the appeal process that some teachers had not disclosed that they had a break in employment and thus were promoted on the basis that they served for a particular amount of years. There were other appeals that indicated teachers’ dissatisfaction with the preliminary list, they were of the view, that they were more senior than teachers identified for the post they had applied for.
Mrs Ramson however, admitted that the Commission is always willing to and has corrected mistakes in the past if a mistake was made on the part of the Commission.
She disclosed that all mistakes that were detected through appeals were duly rectified.
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