Dear Editor,

I FIND it most preposterous that “With immediate effect, the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) announced … that it is withdrawing from participating in the present assessment of schools and all other planned engagements with the Ministry of Education over the recent vaccine requirements put in place.” To be defiant is one thing, but to be so in the face of commonsense, and at the risk of endangering a nation is quite another.
I go back to December 2020, and I hope to enlighten the entire GTU. I remind all that at the time, UNESCO and Education International (EI), the global federation of education unions, issued a call to governments and the international community to consider the vital importance of vaccinating teachers and school personnel. The message was clear and resounding. It stated that “Reopening schools and education institutions safely, and keeping them open as long as possible is imperative. In this context, as we see positive developments regarding vaccination, we believe that teachers and education support personnel must be considered as a priority group.” So, it is not a Guyana thing.

The international cry is, “… that countries should take critical measures regarding teachers, in the global pandemic, including the protection of teachers and students’ health, safety, and well-being.” So, to the GTU and its Head, Mark Lyte, I say, “Wake up and quit the machinations. The Education Ministry is spot on with its policy of urging “… teachers who are yet to get vaccinated, to use this period to do so before the reopening of schools.” Attaching some conditions is perfectly in order, too, so I am with the ministry, as it also outlined that “… teachers who do not wish to get vaccinated are required to submit a negative PCR test once per week. Those who do not report for duty will be marked as absent.” For Mark Lyte and those he is speaking for, I again highlight that Guyana’s situation herein is a bit tardy. Guyana should have been embarking on mandatory vaccination for the teaching fraternity some time ago.

As far back as April 2020, at the global level, it was pointed out that “… school closures disrupted the learning of almost 90 per cent of students worldwide … (and) while that number has dropped since, there continues to be an unsupported assumption that closing schools may slow the spread of the disease, despite increasing evidence that schools are not the main driver of community transmission.”
This explains why “UNICEF is calling for teachers to be prioritised to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, once frontline health personnel and high-risk populations are vaccinated. This will help protect teachers from the virus, allow them to teach in person, and ultimately keep schools open.” Who can debate that the longer children remain out of school, the less likely they are to return, and the more difficult it is for their parents to resume work?
I submit, therefore, that in light of scientific, medical, and social evidence, that GTU is ‘out of order’.

Yours sincerely,
Erin Northe