ACCORDING to a circular disseminated by the Ministry of Education, school teachers are required to supervise students at all times during play and at lunch time while they are at school.
The circular follows the recent tragic event in which six-year-old Glensean Skeete lost his life after a goal post fell on him during a sports practice session.
The circular was sent to the 10 regional educational officers and the principal educational officer in Georgetown, as well as the principals of schools, for immediate implementation.
School teachers have the responsibility for supervising school children during contact and non-contact periods during the school day, which officially begins at 08:45 hours and ends at 15:15hours. However, with this mandate, teachers are now even more taxed with supervising students during their lunch hour.

The circular stated: “The students must be supervised at all times during play and at lunch while at school. You must ensure that a schedule is developed identifying those teachers who will facilitate this process on a daily or weekly process.”
This responsibility has become quite taxing since, according to one teacher at Queen’s College, teachers must now accompany students to food outlets outside of the school to purchase their lunch during the lunch period allocated for both students and teachers.
Furthermore, according to the circular, if children are taken to events or activities outside of the school, there must be a ratio of one teacher to every 20 students and at all times parental consent must be sought if students are required to leave the school for such activities. A report must also be submitted to the respective heads of departments for perusal by senior officials of the central ministry if necessary, detailing the activities that require students’ participation.

While many teachers may not mind going ‘above and beyond’ for their students, this mandate seems to clash with the labour laws of Guyana. The Labour Act in Chapter 99:03 details the conditions of employment of certain workers. Section Five of this chapter states: “… the employer of any worker shall, on each working day, allow to such worker an interval from work of not less than one hour for luncheon or dinner…”
This circular was signed by the Chief Education Officer, Marcel Hutson. When contacted by the Guyana Chronicle over the weekend, however, the CEO was unavailable to respond to questions on the issue.