Have no fear
Minister of Education Nicolette Henry engages parents and teachers on the sidelines of a meeting at the Hope Secondary School
(Delano Williams photo)
Minister of Education Nicolette Henry engages parents and teachers on the sidelines of a meeting at the Hope Secondary School (Delano Williams photo)

…Henry assures concerned parents contingency plan will deliver

As the teachers strike enters its third day today, parents are concerned about how the countrywide industrial action will affect their children rather than about taking sides on the dispute between Government and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU).

This was made clear during a visit to the Hope Secondary; West Demerara Secondary and Queen’s College by Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry and Chief Education Officer, (CEO) Marcel Hutson on Tuesday.

The ministry’s team met with parents and teachers to listen to their recommendations and concerns even as they prepare to activate a contingency plan to prevent children from bearing the brunt of the strike when schools reopen on Monday.

According to Hutson, come next Monday this contingency plan will see some 400 teachers being deployed where needed and this includes 98 graduates of the Cyril Potter’s College of Education (CPCE); 204 continuing teachers; teachers on practicum and retired teachers.
In addition, each region has been equipped with monitors and coordinators; a secretariat has been set up for management and a register sheet will be used daily to take record of attending teachers’ to determine where extra efforts will be needed.

Education Minister Nicolette Henry meets with parents and teachers of the Hope Secondary School on the East Coast of Demerara on Tuesday (Delano Williams photo)

 

“It is not that we’re not in sympathy or that we do not understand what you’re experiencing, Hutson addressed the teachers, adding: “But it is very important that we ensure that our children do not become pawns in any bargaining arrangements…we need to keep our children out of this issue.”

To many parents this is also a priority which is why many have begun to scrutinise the contingency plan. Questions were raised at Hope Secondary and Queen’s College about the level of expertise of the young teachers while others were concerned about the use of retired educators.


READ ALSO: GTU willing to go below 40%


During the interactive session, a parent of a student at the fifth form level of Queens’ College told the minister that she had expected a detailed breakdown on the teachers which will be available to each school come September. Although a general number was provided she was not comforted that the teachers on standby would suffice. “We are siding with our children…you send a teacher from Cyril Potter’s College to first form Queens’ College [students], the children will chew them up. They will chew them up, [and it’s the] same thing at Bishops. You have to know what you’re dealing with. And, when those children come to school and there isn’t adequate care for them, then we as the parents have to turn around [and deal with it],” the parent, Michelle Fraser, voiced.

Minister Henry interacts further with teachers at Hope Secondary School coming out of the meeting (Delano Williams photo)

Meanwhile, another parent at Hope Secondary, East Coast Demerara was concerned about whether the current curriculum would be adhered to by the new teachers. “My concern is how this will affect my child…there’s a syllabus that children have to do when they start school. These people, are they going to do it effectively that the child will learn or when the teachers start back will they have to play catch up? At the end of the term there is an assessment so how will this affect our children?” she questioned.

In response, Minister Henry clarified that similarly to how teachers are able to receive the teaching syllabus from the Ministry of Education, the same procedure will follow suit in the contingency plan. “We will still have the syllabus. It’s not going any place so whoever will be teaching you will be using whatever exists in the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education is not [absent]…the teachers are going on strike,” she explained.

Hutson for his part vouched for the ability of the teachers on standby stating: “Retired teachers: they’ve walked the system before. Many of them are retired head teachers, senior masters and mistresses, so they have an understanding of the system. Secondly, with Cyril Potter’s College of Education that’s where they learned to write schemes and lesson plans and so on. The information that is needed for the movement of the school will be in the school so all the teachers have to do is to access the material and activate the system.”

Workable Plan
Speaking to the concerns raised by the parent of the Queen’s College student, Henry reminded the gathering that although the plan cannot be a perfect one, it is a workable one. She invited those with concerns about the plan to put forward alternative solutions even as she added that the government will not sit idly by while students in the mix are not permitted their right to an education.

Yet, leaving the meetings, several parents and teachers were still anxious about the possible effects of the strike action on the quality of education their children would receive.
Both Henry and Hutson have since urged parents in all locations to send their children to schools as the ministry remains positive that a resolution will come to the matter and better judgement will prevail.

“I’m asking you that you work with us to ensure that the system continues to deliver. We have to educate our people because we have to have an educated nation and an educated workforce and that will happen in the classroom,” she said.

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