‘How can I worry about other people’s children and mine are in shambles? – striking teachers tells Govt.

Feb 29, 2024 News

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Day 17 of striking Teachers…

Kaieteur News – On Wednesday at the Ministry of Education on Brickdam striking teachers cried out that, it is almost impossible for them to worry about other people’s children, when the pittance the government is giving them as a salary, can barely cover expenses for their own families.

Sir Randy Mingo on Monday said that, “. They need to make us comfortable, we too have families, how can I worry about other people’s children and mine are in shambles? I don’t know how to fully take care of mine because of the meagre salary I am receiving. I have to stress that this has to do for myself, my family, my kids, and by extension the kids under my control.”

The educator explained, that as a teacher they are the second parents to the students, and on a daily basis they are approached by children under their care who have a vast number of challenges or needs. “We as teachers are second parents for these children, and so most of our kids or a lot of our kids come to us with various needs- some physical that we have to attend to and we literally use our monies to help out these children.”

Mingo noted that the pittance that teachers receive as a salary, which the government thinks is mammoth ,is just a speck to what the higher ups are enjoying. “The little pittance that we get from the government that they think is so mammoth, is nothing in comparison to what they are enjoying. They are enjoying the good life but we as teachers are not.” A number of other teachers shared the same sentiments. Sir Abiva Cort, the Head of Department for Social Studies at President’s College explained to this publication that the one month absence away from school won’t have any major impact on student especially those who are preparing to sit the upcoming CXC and Common Entrance Exams. He said, “I don’t think it would have any effect on the students because you cannot measure this one month period that the students or the teachers would have exited the classrooms to say that it would put pressure on the education system. (Simply) because our teachers, the teachers of Guyana are known to be teachers that work. We are about the best teachers in the Caribbean.”  “The Caribbean and the world at large clamor for teachers of Guyana they reach out and try to get measures to get the teachers from Guyana to go further afield to deliver the curriculum so teachers have been working over the years and over the months so the students are not at a disadvantage,” Cort added.

Another educator who has been in the system for decades, Sir Marcelle Leonard told Kaieteur News that, “Well the government has to meet at the bargaining table for discussion for better salaries for teachers. The teachers over the years have been going through tremendous stress in terms of weak salary and in these circumstances, I think the government has the right to meet with the union to discuss better wages with the teachers and I feel the teachers will have to carry on the struggle until the government comes to the bargaining table.”

As the crowd built up, parents and students also joined the teachers showing their full support. Roxanne (only name given) who is also a teacher noted that, “The government should just pay the teachers so that the strike could end. They need to be reasonable and pay the teachers what they are asking for, even if it is not the amount they are asking for.  Give  Teachers a reasonable percentage that will satisfy them because it is unfair what teachers are getting in this country.”

Another parent, Faye LaRose said that, “ They can pay the teachers they just don’t care, but we are hoping that Jagdeo will come to his senses take shame out of his face, his heart will soften and he will give the teachers what they deserve. The cane cutters went out the other day and he done pay them what happen with the teachers. This man don’t care a damn about us.”

As the strike continued across Guyana, teachers in Region Two were also in the streets protesting for a better salary. In a live stream on Sir Martin Samaroo’s page, Former Teacher and Lecturer at the Cyril Potter College of Education, Alex Kelley George during his address to the teachers said that, “I have been a teacher for 38 years, I retired 2018 so I know of all the fights.” Giving a little history he told them, that it wasn’t always Guyana Teacher’s Union. A while back it was the Guyana Teacher’s Association. The nationalising of schools is what sparked the changing of name to a union.

“The President could have never been the President if there wasn’t a teacher. The funny thing is that the President’s father and mother were teachers. I worked with the father at Cornelia Ida Primary School from 1980-1984 and he was a GTA representative,” he disclosed. In light of this the veteran feels that the President should have some understanding of the teacher’s plight and what they go through on a daily basis. Education International (EI)– the global union federation which represents 32.5 million teachers and education workers in 178 countries has indicated that it will be raising the complaints of Guyanese teachers with the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) disclosed on Tuesday. President of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), Mark Lyte during a Facebook live recorded on the Union’s page said that the international organisation has written a letter which is yet to be sent to the Minister of Education. Lyte said that EI had initially dispatched a letter to Education Minister, Priya Manickchand on February 16, 2024 expressing its concerns about the teachers’ challenges. Thus far, the organisation has received no acknowledgement from the government and has expressed its “disappointment and concern”. The GTU leader disclosed that in the second letter, that is to be sent to the Minister, the EI said it has no choice but to take the issue to the ILO if the Government of Guyana continues to ignore calls for negotiations for better pay through the collective bargaining process.

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• children, ministry, salary, strike, teachers

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