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President Ali appeals to teachers “to have a conscience”
…as strike, protests continue this week
President Irfaan Ali
Kaieteur News – President Irfaan Ali on Sunday called on teachers to be fair and “have a conscience” even as he urged the educators to reflect on the myriad of efforts his government has employed to make their work simpler.
Speaking via a live stream on his official Facebook page, President Ali urged teachers to consider how his government has been working to address their concerns within the education sector.
The President noted that several efforts were made to improve the system for teachers.
“We have been getting more teachers trained…All trainees in pre-service training at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE), are now paid $90,000 instead of a $10,000 stipend,” Ali ranted.
An upset Ali continued, “Teachers are also being provided with a termly grant to purchase school supplies and head teachers are no longer required to teach so they can focus on administrative work…We have been offering other incentives such as increased duty-free concessions.”
Said Ali: “You are telling me, that none of this matters… Teachers have to have a responsibility too. We have to be fair, we have to have a conscience, we can’t allow ourselves to become political pawns.”
As such, Ali again urged teachers to be patient with the government as it works gradually to improve the lives of all workers.
“This is all I ask, for us to be fair, for us to look at all we have done, for us to understand the commitments that I have made and for us to put the children first,” Ali said.
On Friday, the President made similar remarks, telling teachers protesting for better salaries that there is no need for them to down tools; he urged them to be patient.
During his speech at the commissioning ceremony for a simulator facility at the Berbice Oil and Gas college, the Head-of-State sought to address how his government is going to “fix the welfare” of not only teachers but also public servants including doctors and nurses.
“I said this to them then, that listen, we are going to commence the process of fixing your welfare but I wanted you to understand and Alistair (Alistair Routledge ExxonMobil Guyana Head) is here,-we suffer from our own good news sometimes- everybody believes that all the resources are available now (but) in 2027 then is when the real growth in revenue coming in would be seen in the country,” Ali pointed before adding, “And I said to our teachers, our nurses, our public servants and I say to them now again that we are committed to giving you the best life possible.”
He continued that he is adamant that “the present situation with the teachers has been overtaken by political expediency” because he had explained to them, public servants, nurses and doctors that his government is “going to work in an incremental way to ensure that they will have the best welfare package in the region” but it will take time.
“You don’t need to down tools because you are pushing at open doors, we are committed to this but you have to have patience,” Ali said.
He noted that some interventions and measures will be coming by the end of this year because his government will be conducting a total evaluation for all categories of workers.
Ali iterated that his government wants to provide the best possible life for all workers but they have to give a little too and that little, according to the President, is patience.
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