The Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) and the Ministry of Education agree that teachers need to be empowered and acknowledged for their roles in nation building.
But while the GTU has called on the Government of Guyana (GoG) to empower teachers by respecting them enough to honour the de-bunching agreement signed in 2011 by the previous administration, government has said it will be acting on the recommendations made by the present commission of inquiry into the public service.
This is according to President David Granger who in response to a question by Stabroek News, on last Friday’s public interest interview said, “Government is prepared to examine the recommendation of the Lutchman Commission and act on it. Our commitment is to what that commissioner finds not to the previous government’s agreement.”
World Teachers’ Day was celebrated yesterday under the theme ‘Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies’ and in a message GTU President Mark Lyte noted that the theme “clearly highlights the crucial role teachers perform towards nation building.”
Minister of Education Dr Rupert Roopnaraine and Chief Education Officer Olato Sam in their messages also acknowledged the key roles teachers play in “moulding a nation,” with Roopnaraine stating that “a teacher is the one professional [he] can think of whose work involves routinely preparing other people for opportunities that they themselves very often never get to take advantage of.”
Both the union and the ministry in their statements called for teachers’ contributions to be acknowledged beyond “platitudes.”
Lyte said, “If we are to truly celebrate World Teachers’ Day as a nation then there is urgent need to address the many hindrances to true empowerment of teachers.”
He said this empowerment will come only when the GoG, “Respects our rights by making our lives less burdensome through the provision of: better facilities and equipment, better salaries, professional treatment.” The union also called on the GoG to show teachers respect by honouring agreements signed and consulting with teachers before deciding on policies.
For the most part Roopnaraine agreed with the identified needs. He called for teacher appreciation “to extend to tangible benefits and systems that facilitate a good life for teachers in recognition of their invaluable work.”
Quoting the UN Global Thematic Consultation on Education in the Post-2015 Development Agenda, the minister noted four areas of consideration which he said are enough on which to build a solid blueprint.
These areas: good conditions of employment; good conditions in the work environment; high-quality pre-and in-service training for teachers and effective management correspond for the most part with the requests of the union.
Meanwhile, Sam stated, “It is only when teachers are recognized as the foot soldiers in national transformation that their professional standing and social positioning are going to be properly addressed.”
Noting that “the attainment of the broad socio-economic objectives of tomorrow requires that we champion the cause of our teachers today,” Sam said they need to be valorized, so that they “can be the models of excellence they should be for the nation’s youth.”
To this end Sam said, the “Ministry of Education has recognized the key role it must play in creating the enabling environment for teachers to effectively fulfil their mandate, [therefore] widespread consultation is now a mandatory element in the crafting of key education policies and teachers’ positions are critical components factored into the development of strategies approaches.”
These changes were welcomed by Lyte who noted that “Guyanese teachers are seldom recognized for their contribution to nation building. Not many functions are held to acknowledge teacher’s contributions.”
While he congratulated those regional education departments that are making an effort to reward teachers, Lyte called for more ceremonies to recognize the hard-working teachers across Guyana since the success of students is definitely due to the efforts put in by teachers.
This acknowledgement, Lyte stated, will motivate teachers to “give more than they have already been giving to Guyana, hence creating the sustainable society we envision.”
In his statement Roopnaraine noted that the “ubiquitous, all pervading nature of a teacher’s works means that we do not recognise how necessary it is and how devastating the consequences of its absence could be.
No one, after all, notices the lung unless it has suffered some grievous injury – education, knowledge, is the oxygen upon which this society will depend for survival and the teaching service is the organ which processes it for our consumption.”
