FOLLOWING the recent injunction filed by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) regarding the 2015 promotion list for teachers, the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) is aiming to resolve matters outside of court and teachers are expected to receive their promotions in the coming academic year.

In early July, the Teachers Union filed an injunction against the TSC, objecting to the publicity of the final list that comprised teachers who are promoted for 2015.

The injunction was filed because the Union felt that the Commission “deviated” from its rules and regulations in the way it processed promotions.

The court has since granted the injunction and halted the promotions until the matters are resolved.

During a brief interview yesterday with this publication, President of the GTU Mark Lyte said that after the second court hearing which was in mid-September, both the TSC and the School Boards Unit indicated their intention to settle the issue “outside of court”.
“The second court hearing was on the 18th of September and after that the TSC and the School Boards have decided to settle the matter outside of the court through dialogue to find out what the issues are exactly so that the promotions (teachers promotions) can go through in the near future,” Lyte said.
He added that the Union is “very satisfied” with the request made by both parties since it was the GTU’s intention from the beginning to have the matter addressed accordingly.
According to Chairman of the TSC, Leila Ramson, the Commission will be meeting with the Union today to iron out the matter and to decide on steps to be taken.
“If all goes well in discussion, teachers can rightfully take up their places in the new school term,” said Lyte.
The matter between the two bodies hovers around the process in which the TSC promotes teachers, given that it is the top authority that governs how teachers’ promotions should be executed. And according to Lyte, the Commission has been making decisions on the basis of “comments” penned by respective Regional Education Officers (REDO) and officials at the Education Ministry on the application forms when teachers apply for promotion.
DEVIATION
“The TSC receives the form from the Central Ministry and act on just the comments instead of the points, which is an accumulation of the years of experience and qualifications of a teacher. So the TSC basically deviated from the rules,” explained Lyte.
IMPARTIALITY
He further explained that the GTU decided to file the injunction to ensure that the process of promoting teachers is “impartial”.
Though some teachers might have scored the highest possible points, they were refused promotion, because of reports from regional officers or head teachers that they needed more supervision. Moreover, a person with fewer points was instead promoted. This, Lyte said, is “unfair”.
“If they (TSC) want to use the comments, they have to put that down in the rules,” proclaimed Lyte.
Ramson, when contacted, said that the TSC did not “deviate” from the rules since the comments are a part of the forms and have to be utilised to determine whether the teacher is suitable for the promotion or not.
“It is in the form for a reason so we need to take note and make use of it. The comments of the REDOs and other officials are important,” said Ramson, adding that, “the TSC does not have a problem putting it in the rules.” This, she said, will be negotiated when the Union and the Commission meets.
The third court hearing is slated for November 6th and, according to Lyte, both the Union and Commission will pen their concerns and present it to the court, so that the matter can be resolved and teachers can attain their promotions.
“The halting of the promotions would have affected schools in some way since some are in need of new administrations. But at the end of the day, it is worth the wait because teachers in the future would be treated in the same way if the matter is not addressed,” said Lyte.

By Shivanie Sugrim