So the teachers want to strike and hold the nation’s kids at ransom

Oct 29, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
I read with disbelief of the Guyana Teachers Union’s decision for all teachers in the public school system to strike next Thursday and Friday.
It seems as though the Guyana Teachers Union and those whom it is representing are trying to hold the nation’s children to ransom until their unreasonable demands are met. It makes me wonder about the love and dedication of teachers. Yes, everyone needs to survive, but I say public school teachers have it better than most public servants. Let me elaborate on that point:
1. Almost all public school teachers give extra lessons, charging 1000 per week or more per pupil. Now let’s say for example one teacher gives extra lesson to 25 pupils minimum per week. That will be 25000×4 = $100, 000 TAX FREE MONEY per month. This is leaving out their actual salary. Now, I don’t really have a problem with teachers giving extra lessons, but all of these teachers choose to teach vital parts of the syllabus at their lesson therefore preventing students from accessing the full syllabus in the school classrooms, forcing these students to pay money for lessons just to get access to the full syllabus. Most public servants don’t see $100,000 on their pay slip per month. Teachers are paid for school holidays amounting to about two months per year.
That is two months of money for just staying home. Plus, with poor record keeping, the public school system teachers are being paid for days off or time off of work. Hey, they just have to be good friends with the school’s administrative staff, after all salary is paid by the Ministry of Education and not by the school.
2. Emotional allowance: The only persons I would say that deserve emotional allowances are those nurses and doctors who work in the ER and in the mental institutions. What emotional abuse do teachers suffer when they are superior to their charges? Granted, there are some pupils who are disrespectful and problematic and I believe a detention programme should be implemented in all schools. If that doesn’t work, then suspension must be effected.
I remember back to the nineties when I was in Greenwich Park Primary school, I was scared of my teachers but I had and still have the utmost respect and love for them. When it came to SSEE time, I experienced extra lesson for the first time.
The exam class had to stay back every afternoon for about an hour. We had our one hour lesson in the classroom and our parents didn’t had to pay a blind cent. Senior teachers like Ms Jean Singh (r’etd), Ms Elaine Ragunath and Ms Lynette Khan recapped our entire syllabus with us. They did it out of their love for teaching, their love for their students and for the academic reputation of the school. Mind you, these ladies had families home waiting for them but they knew how important our exam was to us.
Their reward was our SSEE results. Now if teachers will be complaining that the syllabus is too much to complete in the classroom then the ministry needs to hire full time teachers and not those part time who leave school to go to the Cyril Potter College of Education, therefore short changing our kids and short changing our pockets by charging for the compulsory extra lesson. Private schools are offering the high quality of education the public school had offered in the 90s with no extra lessons. And the recent SSEE and CSEC results prove what I am saying.
So in conclusion, instead of salary increase for all teachers, the Ministry of Education should have an outstanding teacher reward programme.
I and many other parents won’t mind bring back retired teachers who contribute immensely to the education system. These teachers will earn whatever salary increase there is because of their outstanding performance.
Anna T Singh

1 thoughts on “So the teachers want to strike and hold the nation’s kids at ransom”

Dellon Osborne October 29, 2017 at 9:17 am

i respect your opinion as a parent. but i have to disagree with some of your points; whats the use of making a point without the actual proof? relating to your statement that? ” almost all public school teachers give extra lessons…”
Are the teachers who are teaching the syllabus at lessons from a particular area? if so as parents you have all right to report such a matter through the right channel so it can be properly addressed. When it comes to comparing our public to private schools there are many factors which contribute to the greater success of the private schools.
Have you considered the fact that in most cases ,before persons are admitted into private schools have to meet a certain criteria ( an average or above level)?
Have you considered the smaller classrooms where there can be more one on one interaction?
have you considered that the students who attend private schools in most cases are of average to high social status?
I am not defending bad practices that some of our public school teachers engage in.
However before stroking your universal paintbrush of the bad practice paint on teachers take these things into consideration.
public school teachers are the ones who are left with the for lack of a better term ” below average children” in most cases. and fore some reasons are expected to wave the magic wand to better the situation. How many parents recognise the slow progress in such children and pat their backs . Our society only recognises the high fliers progress is often given little to no interest.
I empathize with public school teachers who are treated like care takers.