Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) President Mark Lyte wants the new Minister of Education to be someone who has passed through the ranks of the education system and understands its challenges.
“We need a minister who understands education, who has come through the ranks and therefore understands the challenges teachers face and in so doing will work towards improving the education system. Someone who will work to improve the quality of education in Guyana from the facilities to teacher training to teacher remuneration,” Lyte said.
Stabroek News contacted Lyte and several senior teachers within the education system to solicit their views on what characteristics they would wish to see in the new political head of the Ministry.
The new APNU+AFC administration has begun assigning cabinet positions and Amna Ally has been tipped to be the new Minister of Education. Ally had previously served as the shadow minister.
Lyte spoke of having a minister who has a “thorough understanding of the education system.”
He added that more than just classroom experience is required. The ideal candidate, he said, should have “a holistic understanding of education, not just classroom experience but at least some knowledge of policymaking at every level of education is necessary.”
“The scope for education is evolving,” Lyte further said. “We need someone who understands that and can work in an evolving environment.”
The Deputy Headmistress of an East Coast Primary School, who asked not to be named, said the sector needs a minister who is “fair, someone who will revamp the system so that teachers can work in it.” She added, “Presently, the system is very difficult to function within.” She noted that suitability is not determined just by academic qualifications and what is also needed is someone who understands the education system.
A Deputy Principal of a senior secondary school in the city, who also asked not to be named, was a bit more specific. She told Stabroek News that what is needed is someone like former acting Chief Education officer (CEO) Genevieve Whyte-Nedd. “We need someone like her who has come through the system and knows how to construct policy for all several levels nursery, primary and secondary,” she said
She added that Whyte-Nedd, who served as acting CEO for five years and controversially retired in 2010 without being appointed to a post for which she was eminently qualified, was described as someone who “knows what the education system should be.” The source further praised the educator as “a true lady, who is not easily swayed and stands her ground.”
The sources stressed that the sector needs someone who is not vindictive, someone who is principled and “knows the system.”
The GTU has on several occasions been at loggerheads with the last administration. Most recently, the union instituted a “work to rule” industrial action to protest the failure of the last government, through the Ministry of Education (MoE), to pay monies owed to teachers as part of a debunching exercise, which began in 2006. This action was temporarily suspended on Monday. Lyte told Stabroek News then that the action, which had begun on May 4th, was suspended so as to give the new administration an opportunity to organise and respond appropriately to the union’s demands.
Asked if he expects the new government to honour the agreement signed by the previous administration, Lyte responded, “of course.” “It is only fair that we give the new government a chance. We are hoping to soon have a meeting with the government to state our case and hopefully it will honour the payment due to teachers,” he said.
In the absence of a Minster of Education, the union has sent its request for a meeting to the new President David Granger. “We have sent a letter to the president and letters to our members informing them of our decision,” Lyte told this newspaper.
Presently, teachers are paid on a scale constituted using academic qualifications. A debunching of the salary scale would see teachers being paid different salaries commensurate with their years of experience.
In 2011, an agreement between the MoE and GTU was reached to allow “an equivalent of approximately one per cent of the teachers’ wage bill [to] be used to implement the debunching exercise by the end of May, 2011.” However, the union was told on April 22nd, 2015 by then Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon that not only that there was no money to pay for debunching in 2014 but that no money had ever been budgeted for debunching.
As a result, a call went out for industrial action.
