Teachers are not poorly paid

Jun 16, 2024 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – Red Thread, a non-governmental organization, is claiming that teachers are receiving starvation wages. This contention was made in a letter published in this newspaper yesterday.

The facts do not support the claim that teachers are being forced to live on starvation wages. Last February, the Ministry of Education published a table which provided the salaries of teachers at various levels within the teaching profession. What that table shows is that, relative to other workers in the public service, teachers are handsomely paid.

The table shows, for example, that a trainee teacher – someone who has just joined the profession – receives a salary of $104,003. This is far more than the entry-level pay of public servants in some ministries.

An untrained graduate teacher receives a salary of $214,908. A trained graduate teacher on the other hand receives $237, 736. A graduate Head of Department receives $280,007. A graduate headmaster/ mistress of a Grade A school receives $369,795 dollars.

The Ministry of Education should send this listing to Red Thread. It should also ask Red Thread to send the salaries of its staff – that is if it has paid staff – to see how this compares with what teachers are presently receiving.

But what is obvious is that when compared with what public servants are paid, teachers are handsomely remunerated. We can make a case that everyone deserves more, but do not for one moment believe that what is being paid to teachers are starvation wages. It is certainly is not.

What is obvious also is that there is gross inefficiency within the country’s education system. But this makes the opposite case: it makes the case for a cut in teachers wages.

If it is costing the government $700,000 per student each year as compared to $300,000 charges in private schools, then it is obvious that the per capita cost of educating a child is way too high, relatively speaking.

Just looking at the numbers, it makes practical sense to privatize the entire education system since it will save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars each year. To educate a child in the private education system is less than half of what it is costing to educate in government schools. It therefore is better for the government to pay parents to send their children to private schools and close the entire public education system.

There are advantages to doing so. Given that educating a child in a government school costs more than twice what it does in a private school, redirecting funds towards vouchers can result in significant savings for the government. These savings could be reallocated to provided other forms of support for children. Free transportation and school meals for example can be added to the benefits which parents receive.

The competition among private schools for voucher-funded students may drive schools to improve their offerings. This market-driven approach can lead to better educational outcomes as schools strive to attract and retain students by providing superior education.

Parents will also benefit. It will empower them to choose the best educational environment for their children. Parents can select the schools that they wish their children to attend. Overall, transitioning to a voucher-based system can lead to cost savings, improved educational quality, and enhanced parental satisfaction and student outcomes.

The government, however, is not planning to do this. But the economic basis for doing so exists.

There, however is a downside. Government-funded private education through vouchers can create a highly competitive private education system. In such a system, it is possible for a few elite private schools to significantly outperform others. This will exacerbate educational disparities within the private education system.

The quality of public education in Guyana is generally poor. This is why parents are so eager to send their children to private schools. Many poor parents make inordinate sacrifices to be able to send their children to private schools. It would be a great relief if government was to pay for this education.

I am sure that if a survey is taken of parents’ attitude towards private education, the vast majority would want to send their children to private schools, once they can afford to do so. With government paying the fees, parents would likely rush to register their children in private schools.

The same principle of value for money can also be applied to the University of Guyana. Why have a University of Guyana that costs a fortune per capita when there are cheaper and more flexible options available!

The government therefore should seriously consider revising its plans for free university education at the University of Guyana. It would be better advised to close the University of Guyana and direct the resources towards the Guyana Online Academy of Learning.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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