Ministry given five working days to respond
Teachers at President’s College have ended their sit-in after meeting with their union, the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) and deciding to give the Ministry of Education five working days to respond to their concerns.
Minister of Education Shaik Baksh says that the Ministry is in receipt of a letter from the school’s Teachers Association and urged them to return to work while the Ministry engages the GTU. The teachers had said that their grievances include a 5% retroactive payment, the water situation, refurbishing of staff rooms and the complete overhaul of the Home Economics and Science Departments.
Another concern, the appointments of senior teachers, has been resolved.
Shaik Baksh
Vice-President of the Teachers Association, Garvin Blackman told Stabroek News yesterday that teachers had a meeting with officials of the GTU on Wednesday afternoon and they came to a decision that they would administer the students’ exams, which began yesterday, while giving the Education Ministry five working days to respond to the issues raised. Should no response be received, they would resume their sit-in, he warned.
The Ministry is engaging the GTU, Baksh says. In an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA), he disputed that the teachers did not receive the additional five percent for 2008, explaining that it was catered for under the Ministry’s agreement with the GTU as the recognised union. However, in December an additional five percent was agreed on and it is this amount that they haven’t received since it is under active consideration by the Ministries of Education and Finance, GINA reported.
The education minister explained that there has been some delay in finalizing a decision because of the various benefits received by PC teachers. “All teachers are receiving what is known as the duty allowances of $5000 to $6000 per month and a housing allowance of $2000 per month, also some of the senior staff receive 25% allowances on their salary…so we wanted to look very closely at what is taking place and who should benefit from the 5% in the light of these various allowances,” he was quoted as saying. He added that the Teachers Association was informed of this by the Chairman of the school’s board.
Meantime, the minister acknowledged that water supply has always been a problem at the school and said that provisions have been made in the 2009 budget for more water tanks which are expected to be available in time for the next school year. “The long term objective to solve this problem would be to drill a new well but this would be too costly.
To drill a new well would cost about $80M to $90M and we don’t have that kind of money so we have to work with Guyana Water Incorporated to solve this problem,” he told GINA.
The Minister said that he was particularly bothered by the teachers’ final ground for taking the industrial action which is the refurbishing of the science and home economics departments, staff and class rooms.
He said this came as a surprise because this was never raised as an issue. “I have spoken to the Chairman of the Board and the Principal and nothing in the minutes reflect that this matter was raised at the board level,” he said, adding that he personally checked the minutes of the Board’s meeting and this issue was never raised. “There is a representative of the teachers on the board and also a representative of GTU in the person of the President and it never came to a high level to the Permanent Secretary of Education, nor the Chief or Regional Educational officers to draw our attention that these things need attention,” he said.
On the issue of delayed senior appointments, the Education Minister said the posts have already been filled, explaining that they were only advertised this year and recommendations were made in April.
Minister Baksh said he considers the action by some of the teachers as “precipitous” noting that GTU last week raised the five percent increase with him and he has been working since then to resolve this matter.
According to GINA, the Ministry plans to replace the roof of the College’s science laboratory in August. Government has expended significant sums of money on the institution over the years, GINA said stating that the expenditure on the school was $163M in 2007, $168M in 2008 and in 2009, $186M. In addition, a dormitory was completed in 2008 at a cost of $84M, it said. The male dormitory had been destroyed by fire in 2004.
Now that the courageous teachers have ended their sit-in, let’s hope the PPP government does not force them to sit-out
Shaky basket shame on you for treating the education of Guyanese children with such lackadasical attitudes.
I bet if the AFC was going to donate something to Presidents college you would see how fast you would giddy up and fly up there and start making changes.
brandon you are so right, if another organization come to the rescue we will see the ppp govt come out and protest just like earlier in the year with the toilet fiasco.
Borat’s pension on retirement is not too expensive but a well to serve our future leaders is. Hurry up students and vote against those who think your welfare and education are secondary issues.
Teaching in Guyana was the worst job I’ve ever had. The conditions under which you work are terrible. Teachers use a pit latrine adjacent to the children’s latrine. When the rain falls, you have to go through the mud to get there. In addition, some of the children could not use the seat so they defecate on the ground. That would be left there for a week because the cleaner cleans every Friday. When you strike for better working conditions, the teachers in the African communities would stay away but those in the Indian communities would attend school; defeating the purpose of the strike. Having a class of 35 students,classes that are half a metre away from each other and jumping cow dung to get to the classroom are just some of the conditions under which teachers in Guyana work. The government doesn’t give a ,,,about education. Where in the world can you find a government who tries to erase instead of preserving the past. Contributions made by past presidents should be preserved and not destroyed. Children of all races attend the President’s College. The government uses tax payers money to wine-n-dine instead of looking after the needs of the people.They don’t care and what annoys me is the fact that all Guyanese are suffering but they will never vote for the change.
I am appalled that it took teachers to raise issues that the board never raised. These issues are real and some of them are not unique to President’s College.
Minister Baksh needs to stop all the excuses /posturings and resolve this issue.He may also wish to investigate why the board failed to present a realistic picture of conditions at the school. Too many of these boards may be looking for a good name from the powers that be and so ignore the issues that are in the best interest of the students’,teachers’ and Guyana’s progress.
have respect for the minister.how can we trust you and your party for lacking simple decourm.if an ant bit a child blame the government.
The ministry needs to stop playing politics with the education of the children and get the school reapaired, and the needs of the teachers fulfilled, put the children first they are the future of guyana.
The PPP/C just wants no progress @ PC,its not their school,so the least the regime can spend on it they feel it and the dream of Burnham will go away.
They fail to realize this school has produced upstanding students,who have gone on to great heights,in and out of Guyana.As the blogger Brandon Samaroo (End the PPP Dictatorship Now!) UNITED STATES says: should any party now come forward and gives any donation, man you will see how fast things get done.
What i have noticed is that whatever this regime builds or have their support is where the most infrastructures go.Guyana is for all not for whom the bell tolls for today.
How Baksh is the Minister of Education….. i don’t have a clue!!!
he is like rohee, once you are a ppp you are guaranteed work man, how you think the govt is the largest employer in the land?
The Board Chairman and the Principal should be fired immediately,,,I already said this, they failed to report this urgent matter to the Ministry, they sit back and drawing money under false pretence..
hogwash, when is your poo poo poo going to take responsibility for their failures and gross negligence?
PPP busy putting all their people in govt housing because before they never had anything much to talk about all on the tax payers back.
Bunch of welfare addicts leaching off the poor people of Guyana.
there you go, the serious message has to be relayed in the form of strikes and sitins ect, to make the govt realised that the poor workers are not playing, their lively hoods are at stake here, now pay the poor workers a decent living wage along with some added benifits and lets get on with educating our future, that was’nt so hard was it?