– Minister Henry assures Berbicians

MINISTER of Education Nicolette Henry on Monday visited several schools across East Berbice, Corentyne where she assured students that their education will not be affected as provisions are being made to ensure substitute teachers are available to take up the slack for those striking.

While addressing students in the auditorium of the Berbice High School, she highlighted that regional educational officers were dispatched across the region and are on the ground to assess the situation, and will provide clear instructions as to what will be done by the end of the day.

“The decision is that we will have the students here, teachers that are present and each and every child here would have left knowing that they would have done something…You are here to learn and you will learn something each and every day,” she assured.
She also assured parents that provisions are in place to guarantee no harm comes to their children and that their education is priority. “You don’t have to be fearful…we are monitoring this every day to ensure the children are not put in harm’s way. We love our teachers… we care for our teachers but we cannot create more problems to solve the problem,” she said.

“We have to solve the problem, we have to talk, we have to discuss it, initiate it until it is resolved in the most amicably and respectable way and we will do that, but in the meantime you must continue to benefit from your education. We have a responsibility to you and we also have responsibilities to the teachers,” said the minister.

She also called on students to be supportive, since they may be taught by teachers they are not familiar with, and expects them to be fully prepared for their regional examinations at the end of the school term.

“We recognise there are challenges and we also recognise that the challenges have to be addressed. What we want to ensure while we address those challenges [is] we do not create other challenges. Because, if you are not in school and not learning that would be a more long-term challenge, not only for you but the entire country and as adults, as leaders whether for the Union or the government we have to be,” the minister told the students at Canje Secondary.

Minister Henry spent the entire day visiting schools across Region Six and interacted with students, parents and teachers wishing them well for the new school year and encouraging them to be punctual and consistent in their attendance, especially students preparing for the CSEC examinations.

Approximately 42 per cent or 600 of the 1,403 teachers in Region Six were on strike, based on the numbers provided by the GTU. Information reaching the Guyana Chronicle indicates that the Vryman’s Ervin Secondary School was the most affected where none of the 35 teachers showed up for work. At the Rose Hall Town Primary School students were seen with confused looks on their faces, as approximately 500 of them were forced to return home, even as a lone Grade Five teacher was in her classroom doing school work.

The teachers took to the streets of New Amsterdam to protest for better salaries, while others who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said while they are in support of the strike action they are fearful of being reprimanded and went to work as per normal. “I have a family of my own to maintain and while I desperately need an increase, I cannot risk losing my job or even a pay cut because it would only make my personal situation worse, so I am in solidarity with those striking but I must first protect my job so my family can continue to enjoy the things we have,” one teacher said.

Another who shared similar sentiments, said she cannot know that there are students entering the school and will be in a new environment and leave them there to fend for themselves. “I cannot leave these babies to be here by themselves, I will probably join the strike later in the week but I could not muster the courage to leave these little ones here all alone, it will only scar them and make my job more difficult later on, so I rather be here and help them settle in then go out and strike later on,” the teacher said. There were several schools that were not affected at all by the strike actions since all teachers showed up for work and had a productive day. The GTU is planning to continue to strike until an amicable solution is agreed upon.