Latest update December 23rd, 2024 3:40 AM
Bynoe returned as GTU President
…plans to tackle growing teacher indiscipline
By Leon Suseran
Colin Bynoe was re- elected for another two years as President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) when the results of the elections were finalized late Saturday evening.
First Vice- President is Malcolm Marcus, while the Second Vice- President is Julian Cambridge.
Desiree Vanlewin was elected as the Regional Vice- President for Essequibo, while Hazel Pyle will represent Demerara.
The Treasurer is Samantha Caryl- Alleyene, while Coretta McDonald remains as General Secretary.
When contacted yesterday, Bynoe stated that he was surprised at the results.
“I thought that we would have much more new faces from how the conduct of the elections was going and complaints from teachers. However, teachers would have voted.”
He noted the low voter turnout at the elections and said that it was “not a true reflection of the confidence [of teachers].”
“I think many persons were frustrated and they vented their feelings in a way that we have to take stock of…to really understand why so many people refused to vote.”
He added that many teachers might have felt that the Guyana Teachers’ Union did not do enough for them; “that the economic situation in this country is such that teachers’ salaries should be increased several fold…also that all teachers [feel that they] should be given duty-free concessions and not [just] a selected bunch.”
Bynoe stated that the low voter turnout could also be blamed on teachers feeling that they all should be given house lots and housing loans…to help them…[but] they fail to realise in getting such benefits, that we [the union] have to start at a certain category before we can get to the level of everyone.”
The GTU President added that there were some discrepancies during the elections in that some teachers did not receive ballots, a matter that will be dealt with.
During the next two years, the new GTU President plans to deal with several issues ranging from “the level of indiscipline among teachers right now throughout the country.”
Colin Bynoe
He assured that teachers’ [poor] punctuality and regularity at school and “even types of response towards teaching” will all be feverishly dealt with in the next two years.
Bynoe noted that it is evident that “some people (teachers) have not been teaching” and he noted that these issues are very important since they directly affect children in the schools.
Many teachers, too, he noted have been misusing and abusing the social media on the internet “to buse out each other.”
He added that complaints have been raised by the Central Ministry officials that “they would have seen postings [from teachers on Facebook] during working hours and that is not bad, but it is what they post– abusive language, disrespectful, lewd conversations and some of them even post pictures that are not in keeping with the professionalism of teachers.”
Bynoe plans to get the Ministry of Education to start and complete the consultation process “for teachers to understand the professional standards of practices about to be put in place for teachers in the Caribbean”.
One of the things that will become a reality out of that is issuing licence for teachers to practice in the school system.
“I’d like to see that all education personnel and teachers being educated about that, so when that time comes [to license teachers in Guyana] people will be ready to respond to such processes.”
Bynoe announced that the GTU Conference this year will begin on Tuesday in New Amsterdam and he expects many national leaders to be there so that they “can hear what will be said and know what they have to take back when they go to parliament”.
The conference, he added, will deal with several issues, and representatives from across Guyana will be there to point the way forward for the new executive.
He thanked his supporters for the confidence they have shown once more for him to serve as president.
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