AS the rain poured on Monday, the day designated for back-to-school in Guyana, just over 200 teachers persisted on a strike while even more students and hopeful parents showed up at schools nationwide.

At some schools such as Peters Hall Primary, Smith’s Memorial Primary, Diamond Primary

and North Georgetown Primary, reports are that the children who showed up were sent home because there was noone there to attend to them. A number of parents also took matters into their own hands and were seen returning home with their children from several schools. Among those schools were Patentia Primary on the West Bank Demerara; Eccles Primary on the East Bank Demerara; and Stella Maris Primary in Central Georgetown.

The teachers picketed in front of the Ministry of Education on Brickdam.
“Don’t give in, we will continue our action until the government agrees to meet with us or agree to our proposal,” said General Secretary of the GTU, Coretta McDonald in an invited comment.

The strike which is into its second week, started because the government and the GTU failed to arrive at a consensus primarily, on the government’s proposed $700M to facilitate salary increases and $200M to address de-bunching for 2018.

The said proposed figure from the government would not be sustainable or acceptable, the GTU argued, since it would amount to an increase by GY$5,000 per teacher for one year. Instead, the GTU has proposed an across-the-board increase in salary of 40 per cent for 2016 and incremental increases of five per cent in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively, to be granted to all categories of teachers and teacher educators.

Although the GTU and the government engaged in follow-up deliberations on the matter, the union had refused to budge from its proposal. The GTU has since said that 40 per cent is not the union’s final decision and they, instead, would be willing to negotiate downwards. “We should have been approached before by the government…teachers are in no confrontation, we love our children and want to be in school but we must be compensated for our work,” said McDonald, adding that if they are not approached or called in for negotiations the strike will continue.

UNAFFECTED SCHOOLS
However, among those schools that were unaffected by the strike were St. Gabriel’s Primary in Georgetown, Eccles Nursery on the lower East Bank Demerara and Patentia Nursery on the West Bank Demerara, which opened their doors for classes and registration on Monday. At Patentia Secondary also, there were limited teachers, but the deputy headteacher explained that for the time being, it would be business as usual.

Meanwhile,F.E Pollard Primary on David Street, Kitty was open until protests taking place at the Education Ministry picked up momentum and saw several teachers leaving the school to join in the demonstrations.
Reports reaching this newspaper were that some teachers, although they were present at school, made plans to sit in without doing any work in support of the strike.

However, regional education officers countrywide were also deployed on Monday to provide an assessment of the student and teacher turnout, and the need for back-up teachers as the government’s contingency plan kicks into action. Visiting schools in Georgetown was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education (MoE) Adele Clarke, who spoke with the Guyana Chronicle about the turnout at Queen’s College, Stella Maris Primary, St. Stanislaus College and Tutorial High. Speaking about her visit to Queen’s College at around 08:30hrs, Ms. Clarke said: “When we got there, they had between 65 to 75 per cent of attendance for the pupils. It was still a little early, so all the teachers were not there as yet; they had about 20 per cent of the staff in place.

According to the headmistress, she would have indicated that at the school’s orientation on Friday that there would have had more than 50 per cent of the staff turning out, so they are expecting more. She wasn’t quite certain if “it’s due to the weather, or traffic or all that’s happening this morning” why the teachers weren’t there as yet, but it was still a little early.

When this newspaper visited Queen’s College around 09:00hrs, the students had filled the chairs in the school’s auditorium while several teachers gathered nearby as the headteacher facilitated the morning’s assembly.

Meanwhile, the turnout at Stella Maris Primary showed that there was between 75 to 80 per cent of the teachers present, but the student turnout was low with less than 50 per cent of students present.

Several parents who had not yet left, were seen sitting with their children in the school’s compound awaiting word from the institution’s administration on whether classes would be in session.

“A little earlier there was a little confusion so some of the parents took their children home, but as it is now, we will be going to start classes and have things set in place,” Clarke informed.

At Tutorial High School, the head teacher(ag)David Sam was unable to provide an updated statistic on the turnout but stated that it was business as usual at the school.
“For the first day it’s very good compared to other years…I would not be able to give you a figure as I have to wait on the stats to come in, but with regards to our teachers I think it’s okay as well. Most of our teachers are here and I didn’t get any bad signal in any case of our teachers striking. We have a mandate and that’s to educate the next generation,” Sam said.

Meanwhile, at the St. Stanislaus College 97 per cent of the teachers were present, while most of the students were in attendance even as the exact percentage was still being tallied.

“The aim is to ensure that we have the children in school, as well as to [ensure that] where they are going to be identified glitches or voids that we can fill those voids, so that the [teachers] can be in place and they [children]won’t necessarily lose. We have officers deployed to all the regions,” Clarke said.

In Bartica, in Region Seven, the school’s welfare officers are manning the classrooms at several schools including the Bartica Secondary and the Three Miles Secondary. Regional officials at Bartica are visiting schools around the town to monitor the situation and make necessary assessments as classes are in session and educators, including retirees, are lending their services. The general reports reaching the newspaper are that the strike action is being undertaken mainly by the secondary school teachers with the support of a few primary school teachers.