KAIETEUR News (KN) has apologised to Education Minister Priya Manickchand and the nation’s teachers for misrepresenting the views they expressed in Berbice, and for taking the minister’s statements completely out of context. The apology was in yesterday’s edition of the newspaper, after it erroneously published that Manickchand had said that teachers should resign if they don’t like their salaries. The paper claimed that the minister’s statement was in response to a teacher saying she could not teach because of poor salaries.
In their apology, KN said they were “satisfied” that they had misrepresented what the minister said, and that they were offering an apology to her and the teachers.
At the Berbice event, Manickchand, after outlining that she, herself, came from a long line of teachers, with her mother, maternal grandfather, his brothers and mother’s siblings all being career teachers, with her father teaching for a bit as well, had hailed teachers as being the backbone of a nation.
She had said that teachers do far more than teach every day and indicated that, in addition to being teachers, they were nurses and counsellors, mothers and confidantes, pastors and advisors.
Manickchand had indicated that most teachers go above and beyond the call of duty to serve Guyana’s children, and had said that the nation is indebted to these good teachers.
The minister had also sounded a warning that the few teachers who worked to pull down the whole profession by always being late for school and late for classes, and even when they were in their classes, putting their heads down on the desk and then at the end of the day blaming a salary for their poor performance, would not be tolerated.
She implored the teachers that if they found themselves not performing to their best for whatever reason, that they go back to their schools with a renewed passion and commitment and dedication to the job, remembering why they first entered the profession and finding that passion again.
The comments were made at an event where the minister was soliciting views from teachers and other educators about the issues of corporal punishment and automatic promotion of students.
This is not the first time the newspaper has had to apologise because of wholly inaccurate and seemingly malicious publications about ministers and other public officials.
Meanwhile, despite the newspaper acknowledging it reported incorrectly and went as far as apologizing, ‘A Partnership for National Unity’ (APNU), yesterday, took issue with Manickchand’s statements.
Shadow Minister of Education and Opposition Chief Whip, Amna Ally, said: “The problem with this government is that ministers and other members of the administration seem to be incapable of acknowledging their mistakes or to take advice or set out to work with persons with the required skills and techniques to overcome challenging hurdles.”
The Alliance For Change (AFC) similarly said in a release that it was “alarmed” at the minister’s statements and called for Manickchand to apologise to teachers.