Scores of teachers benefit from GTU spearheaded training workshops

Jul 28, 2018 News

GTU President, Mr. Mark Lyte

A number of teachers were recently exposed to some crucial training which is expected to help boost their delivery in the classroom. The one-week training came compliments of the Guyana Teachers Union [GTU] in collaboration with the Canadian Teachers’ Federation.
The Canadian Teachers’ Federation is the national alliance of professional teacher organizations representing nearly 232,000 teachers throughout Canada. It is affiliated with Education International. A few decades ago, the GTU and the Federation were able to forge a long lasting relationship.
“Every year, there is a training workshop which is specifically geared for the hinterland areas to provide upgrade for those teachers in such far flung regions who are not exposed to proper training but they still have to teach our students,” said Lyte.
The strategic training is usually facilitated during the July/August holiday. But according to GTU President, Mr. Mark Lyte, although the training programme was planned for Lethem, Region Nine, unprecedented flooding situation in that locale forced the GTU to relocate the activity to Region Five. The duration of the programme this year was also reduced to one week rather than the usual two weeks.
The move to put measures in place to ensure teachers benefited from the training was especially important since, according to Lyte, “The Union looks forward to provide that professional support. So we would have made alternative arrangements to ensure that they did not lose out this year.”
Although it was no easy task to put the measures in place, Lyte intimated that the training programme did turn out to be a successful. “The tutors from the Canadian Teachers Federation and our local co-tutors engaged over 70 teachers daily from Monday to Friday [of last week],” Lyte related.
The programme, he recounted, saw teachers being able to benefit from a number of sessions, which focused on the subject areas of Mathematics, Language, Administration, Health, Guidance and Counseling, and Science. “These are all areas that we feel are of importance to our teachers,” informed the GTU President.
Last year, the training was held in Kwakwani.
The programme is intended to cater to teachers who may not otherwise get the opportunity to access the Cyril Potter College of Education [CPCE] programmes.
Lyte informed that in many of the hinterland and riverine areas, there are untrained teachers who are therefore less qualified than teachers on the coastland thus the need for them to benefit from such programmes.
While many years ago, teachers were given credit for participating in programmes thereby allowing them to be afforded an upgraded status, Lyte noted, during an interview last year that is no longer a feature that is endorsed by the Ministry of Education.
“We are hoping that somewhere along the line, the Ministry will again see that as important as such programmes can serve to enhance teachers and their efficiency in terms of the teaching/learning process,” added Lyte.
Support from the Ministry of Education towards this cause has usually been in the form of regional contributions as transportation and permission to utilize schools and dormitories, according to Lyte.

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