Teachers pay should be commensurate with noble profession – GTU Conference hears

Apr 01, 2016 News

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Teachers understandably are the key stakeholders in the education system and must therefore be treated

to reflect this. This notion was emphasised Tuesday evening by Dr. Nigel Gravesande, Registrar of the University of Guyana.
Dr. Gravesande’s disclosure was forthcoming as he presented the feature address at the opening of the Fifth Biennial Conference of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) at the Three Mile Secondary School in Bartica.
In what was described as a stirring presentation, Dr. Gravesande spoke of the need for teachers to be afforded much improved remuneration packages commensurate with the task they have, of moulding the nation.
The GTU is currently in negotiations with the Ministry of Education for a multi-year pay increase that will span the period 2016 – 2020. And according to recently re-elected GTU President, Mr. Mark Lyte, a 40 per cent increase has been proposed for this year, while 45 per cent has been proposed for next year (2017) and 50 per cent for the following three years (2018-2020) for all categories of teachers.
In a proposal seen by this publication, the Union has taken into consideration inflation, and made it clear that “should there be inflation higher than the percentage agreed upon, then the teachers/teacher-educators must get the benefit of the difference.”
Teachers for the past five years were only eligible for a five per cent increase.
Speaking at the conference, Dr. Gravesande underscored that even while undertaking their noble teaching task, teachers are faced with many challenges.  He nevertheless outlined ways that teachers dedicated to the profession can work towards improving the delivery of education by incorporating certain tactics such as embracing technology.
He pointed out that having technology infused in the local educational setting can considerably advance learning thereby bringing the local education system on par with the rest of the world.

According to him, this is imperative, because Guyana is technologically way behind and must seek to catch up with the rest of the world. He however noted that this must be with the backing of Government, to enhance the educational product offered.
“Support must not only be from Government but also the parents and guardians of children,” said Dr. Gravesande who made a point of stressing that teachers in their endeavours should not be afraid of failure. He made it clear that sometimes it is failure that can propel persons to ultimately achieve success.
Lyte who presented the presidential report at the opening of the conference also highlighted the challenges faced by teachers and underscored the need to build the capacity of teachers, thereby enhancing the skills and talents they possess to move the education sector forward.
The conference, which had an opening ceremony laced with entertaining features, is being attended by 140 delegates drawn from the 39 GTU branches across the country. Greetings and well wishes for a successful conference were sent by Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine and the Guyana Labour Union, and messages of solidarity from regional unions were also read.
The conference is slated to culminate today with the installation of the new GTU executive including the re-elected President, Lyte, and General Secretary, Ms. Coretta McDonald who was also re-elected this past weekend.
Lyte, even before being re-elected this past weekend, had told this publication that once he is re-elected, “I will work feverishly to implement the things we have highlighted like higher wages and salaries for our teachers, duty free concession for other categories of teachers, apart from heads and deputies, and more allowances for teachers who work in the hinterland”.
It was even then his expectation that teachers in the hinterland be given shorter periods to serve their contracts and also be able to gain points for promotion. Usually teachers are required to serve a five-year period after completing training at the Cyril Potter College of Education.
As president, Lyte said that he will also be advocating for smaller class sizes for teachers. And according to him too, the Union will be looking to encourage teachers to further embrace the technological realm.
With Lyte at the helm of the GTU, moves will be made to have a website that is functioning, with a focus on the teaching profession. In fact, he disclosed that the GTU will be seeking to bring on stream radio and/or television programmes to disseminate valuable information to teachers. These should have already been on stream but, according to Lyte, there were some hiccups that prevented this from materialising during the past year.

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