Latest update March 21st, 2025 7:03 AM
Latest News
GTU prompts Education Minister to examine School Boards’ performance
School Boards oftentimes do not work in the interest of schools. This is the firm belief of President of the
GTU President,
Mark Lyte
Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), Mark Lyte, who has expressed hope that moves will be made to “do away with School Boards as far as possible.”
According to Lyte, the need for a revision of the School Boards Secretariat and by extension, School Boards has long been an issue gaining the attention of the Union. “This has been something that we have asked for a long time because we find that there is a lot of conflict. People who do not necessarily understand education are placed on School Boards based on their political affiliations,” said Lyte.
The GTU President said that School Boards comprising political appointees “generally they do nothing for the schools. So we would like to see School Boards being reviewed with a hope that it could become a thing of the past.”
School Boards are appointed by the School Board Secretariat which falls under the purview of the Ministry of Education. And according to Lyte, on most occasions persons are selected by the Ministry. He however disclosed that during the lead-up to the May 11, 2015 elections, Head Teachers were asked to identify persons to comprise the Boards.
But according to Lyte, finding the ideal people, who are interested to volunteer a great deal of their time to the uncompensated work of the Board, is not always an easy task. “These people are not given a stipend for their travelling or anything,” said Lyte of the School Boards members for this reason they may not have the schools’ interest at heart, he suggested.
Ahead of the recent call for Head Teachers to identify potential Board Members, Lyte said that “persons
Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine
were selected from external places based on their affiliation to be a part of Boards, and many of them did not know education policies so they could not make informed decisions.”
Another shortcoming of the Board highlighted by Lyte is that, while teachers of non-board public schools are appointed by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), those at Board Schools are appointed by the respective School Boards which translates to some variances. For instance, while TSC requires a teacher to apply for a Head Teacher position to undergo an evaluation complete with the writing of an essay, this is not required by the Board.
There are currently about 30 Board Schools and according to Lyte, “It is simply not a level playing field.”
He is convinced that a school’s Parent Teachers Association (PTA) together with its administration could be an efficient enough management team. “Members of the PTA are more likely to have an interest in what happens at a school because they (members) have children attending that school,” the GTU President speculated.
And since it is the claim of recently appointed Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, that he has “a lot of respect for what the Union is saying” he intimated his willingness at least to review the work of School Boards.
Dr. Roopnaraine in an invited comment noted, that while he hasn’t a fixed position on the issue “it is something we have to examine. I think that probably not all of the Boards should be lumped into one…there are probably some Boards that work well and there are probably some other Boards that don’t work well.”
As such, the Education Minister said that his intent is to give close attention to the individual performances of the Boards. This, according to Dr. Roopnaraine, would allow him to ascertain what corrective measures, if any, are required.
“I can understand the feeling and the idea that the PTAs’ might in fact be the best formation to take charge of the School,” said the Education Minister as he claimed awareness of some systems where the PTAs’ have the decisive role in what happens in the schools.
“We will look at this. I am very open to see what works and what doesn’t work. What works we will continue to go forward with, what doesn’t work we will correct or change,” assured the Minister.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
“One Guyana” is no less a national slogan than “Green Guyana”
Kaieteur News- The notion that “One Guyana” is a partisan slogan is pure poppycock. It is a desperate fiction... more
If Guyana’s President Ali is the “Zelensky of the Caribbean”, who is the Putin?
Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS, Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- In the latest... more
Weekend Cartoon
