GTU makes case against continuance of current TSC

Jun 02, 2017 News

Rumours suggesting that there has been an appeal for the extension of the life of the Teaching Service Commission [TSC] have triggered the ire of the Guyana Teachers Union [GTU].

GTU President Mr Mark Lyte

This is according to GTU President, Mr. Mark Lyte, who has made it clear that the union has no confidence in the TSC in its current form.
According to Lyte, the Commission was found wanting on several occasions. “We have stated time and again that we don’t have confidence in it [TSC], especially the chairperson,” said Lyte as he made reference to a number of infractions that were perpetuated by the Commission. Listed prominently among the concerns is the fact that the TSC disregarded a request made by the GTU to review the 2015 preliminary list of senior teachers’ appointment.
This move was reportedly premised on the fact that the GTU had found plausible reasons to question the process of appointment of teachers. While the TSC had accepted the concerns of the GTU, its chairperson had insisted that a review of the preliminary list was not feasible since the process was tedious. She had however informed that the concerns of the union would have been taken into consideration for the 2016 process.
The GTU had moreover moved to the court to prevent the TSC from going ahead with finalising its preliminary list. The TSC instead of addressing the concerns decided to let the court decide on the matter. The court matter in this regard came to finality in November of last year with the court supporting the GTU’s call for a review of the promotion process.
“We insisted that something was amiss with the promotion process and we are happy that the court ruled in our favour…” Lyte had vocalised on the heels of the ruling.
The review of the preliminary list was completed with the eventual appointments of teachers being retroactive to September 2015.
But according to Lyte, “There were several instances when appointments were done without following due process. We are of the opinion that the Commission led by Leila Ramson is really not satisfying the real objective of the Commission when it comes to teaches promotion.”
Particularly daunting, Lyte said, is the fact that “we have evidence of some cases that some persons were rehired at a higher status even though they hadn’t the relevant qualifications.” He shared instances where Temporary Unqualified Master/Mistress [TUM] were appointed to elevated positions rather than being dismissed after failing to upgrade themselves. Upgrade of TUMs is mandatory within a year of appointment.
“I know of cases where there were people [TUMs] who were rehired, having done nothing with their qualifications, to the status of Temporary Qualified Master/Mistress [TQM] instead,” Lyte informed. “It has been these kinds of things that have been done that actually caused us to have no confidence in the TSC,” reiterated the GTU President.
The life of the TSC is slated to come to an end this year and, according to Lyte, “We would like to see a new Commission.” The Commission by law should comprise of four members from the political party in power, one from the opposition side and one from the GTU.
From among these the Chairperson is elected. But according to Lyte, based on the reports that have reached the GTU, there have been moves to have the Commission remain active pass its stipulated timeframe.
“We are not in favour of the life of the Commission being extended even though we would want to see [new] promotions done in January [2018],” Lyte noted.
According to the GTU President, the union is optimistic that vacancies will be advertised by the end of this month. He, however, asserted that “we believe that the Commission can do some work with the application and a new Commission can complete it because we are looking at January for the next set of promotions.
“We do not believe that a change in Commission should affect the promotion process…we don’t need an extension of their life to have that done.”

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