Latest update December 24th, 2024 4:10 AM
Latest News
- A race to the bottom: Some countries are prepared to give away value, rather than fight to retain it
- EPA waives environmental study for construction, installation of transmission lines and substations for gas plant
- Gaza toddlers got the polio vaccine, then an Israeli bomb took their legs
- $205M Mahaicony Magistrates’ Court commissioned
- Second powership switched on
GTU General Secretary elected CUT executive member
GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald
The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) will have direct input in the decision-making processes of the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT).
This is due to the fact that the GTU’s General Secretary, Coretta McDonald, was recently appointed third Vice President of CUT when the body met in Dominica.
The CUT meeting was held over the period August 3 to August 7, 2015.
This development, according to GTU President, Mark Lyte, is a laudable achievement for GTU and by extension Guyana.
“It means more representation should be forthcoming for Guyana, since we now have somebody sitting on CUT…this is good for us,” Lyte said during an interview with this publication.
The CUT came into being in August 1935 to promote the view that teachers are an integral part of the working people who constitute the majority of the Caribbean society. Moreover, it recognizes the need for teachers and teachers’ organizations. It further recognizes teachers as professionals who must work relentlessly to improve professional standards and who must show commitment to students, community and education.
As an organization, the CUT is guided by its Mission Statement which states that it is the “umbrella organization for teachers’ in the Caribbean and is dedicated to the efforts to further the cause of teacher unions: to promote the status, interest and welfare of teachers; to improve the quality of education in the Caribbean and to unite the peoples of the region.”
A total of 27 teachers’ unions, including the GTU, were represented at the recent CUT meeting held in Dominica. Each was given an opportunity to share what has happened over the past year in their respective territories. The previous CUT meeting was held in Belize last year.
One of the issues that has been gaining CUT’s attention for some time and was again discussed at the last meeting was that of teachers marking School Based Assessments (SBAs). And according to Lyte, the GTU is sticking to its earlier decision, which has been endorsed by CUT, to halt marking of SBAs from next year.
He was however hopeful that a decision would have been made at the latest CUT meeting for all within its membership to embrace the boycott of marking SBAs. The move in this direction was intended to prompt the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) to pay teachers for their marking services, which constitutes an addition to their normal teaching workload.
“We will stick to our decision and also the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union…they too are insisting that they would not mark, but there wasn’t any decision across the board, and that is what we were looking forward to,” said Lyte.
He added that “I was hoping Caribbean-wide it would have been all of us on board…the thing is everybody wants to be paid for marking SBAs, but they are studying what will happen to the children” .
According to Lyte, while the issue was brought to the attention of the CXC Registrar, there has been no commitment to afford teachers any payment for their efforts. However, Lyte disclosed that the Union has plans to take the matter up with Minister of Education, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine.
“We will have to engage the Minister and let him know our position…maybe it might be possible for the Ministry to offset some of the cost,” said Lyte.
The GTU President also noted that it would only be fair to pay teachers for marking SBAs, since the examining body usually pays for the marking of the written aspects of examinations.
Some 2,000 local teachers are involved in the marking of SBAs on an annual basis.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
This is our city
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The City of Georgetown is stink, dirty and disordered. It is littered with garbage, overwhelmed... more
Breaking the Chains of Poverty: A need for political will
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The year 2024 has underscored a grim reality: poverty continues to be an unyielding... more
Weekend Cartoon
