TSC ready to proceed with review of teachers’ promotion list

Dec 14, 2016 News

…but awaits written court order from Chief Justice

Although a court-ordered review of senior promotions within Public schools is expected to be shortly set in motion by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC), the absence of a written court ruling could delay the process.

TSC Chairperson, Ms. Leila Ramson

Sharing this development yesterday was Chairperson of the Commission, Ms. Leila Ramson.
Chief Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, on November 10, last, ruled that the 2015/2016 senior promotions lists of the TSC and the Schools Board Secretariat (SBS) be reviewed.
The operation of the SBS is governed by the TSC.
The stalled promotions had resulted in no senior teachers’ promotions for the past two years.
The court proceeding was initiated by an injunction filed by the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) which had reason to believe that the promotion processes of both the TSC and the SBS were flawed.
Ramson disclosed yesterday that while the oral decision of the Chief Justice took approximately two years to be arrived at, a written decision has not yet been forthcoming.
“A modus operandi has to be worked out, but to date TSC has not received a written decision from the Chief Justice. Hopefully, we will receive the written decision from the Court by early January,” Ramson said.
Ramson divulged yesterday that the TSC, which is a Constitutional and Autonomous body, was strongly advised by three Senior Counsel to appeal the Court Order handed down by the Chief Justice. She, however, noted that it was recognized that “since the pursuance of said appeal would result in a long and time-consuming process, TSC has decided not to do so, on humanitarian grounds. The TSC wishes to state that its decision not to appeal was primarily to avoid any further suffering of the affected teachers which would ultimately also affect the nation’s children.”
According to Ramson, the decision to proceed with the review was made yesterday during the TSC’s monthly statutory meeting. During the meeting Commissioners agreed that the 2015/2016 Senior Promotion List for School Administrators be done during the course of the new school term.
According to Ramson, a Special Full Commission meeting will be held early January 2017 to plan the review. This exercise will definitely take a few months, since a thorough review of approximately 5,000 applications will be done.
But GTU President, Mr. Mark Lyte at a recent press conference said that he was convinced that the process would take no more than a few weeks to be completed. This is light of the fact, he noted, that the TSC and the SBS are already in possession of the applications and merely have to review these.
Lyte had revealed last month that should this year come to an end without any adherence to the judgement that favoured the union, stern action will be taken. A decision in this regard, he said, will be arrived at when the union’s general council meets this month.
“We will be calling out our teachers come January if these reviews are not done. It is our belief that TSC is afraid of what they will discover. We also believe that they have no regards for the rule of law,” said Lyte as he shared his conviction that “the TSC simply does not care about the teachers who are affected.”
The GTU has been calling on the Minister of Education, Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine, and President David Granger to urgently intervene in the promotion issue which has for two years denied teachers within the public system senior promotions.

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