Strike action by Guyanese teachers intensified yesterday, when it is estimated that more than 3,000 of them stayed away from the classroom on the first teaching day of the new school year.
In all the education districts of the 10 Administrative Regions, the teachers stayed home or took to the streets to continue to protest government’s failure to honour joint proposals for wages and other benefits. The strike began during the pre-term last week.
And while some teachers chose to go to work and the Education Ministry deployed its contingency plan, many frustrated parents were forced to take their children back home as schools in Georgetown, Berbice, Linden, Lethem and Moruca remained closed or didn’t have the requisite staff to attend to the students. Hundreds of teachers also participated in protests outside of Regional Education Offices in regions One, Two, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Ten and in Georgetown.
