THE Ministry of Education has initiated a series of measures to bring relief to the nation’s teachers. Teachers can now take advantage of a plethora of welfare benefits which include a low cost health and insurance coverage, a revolving mortgage fund for teachers to access up to $12 million in financing, discounts at over 150 businesses, and the establishment of a Teacher Benevolence Fund, among others.

Additionally, the annual National Teachers’ Award will be reinstated with more attractive prizes and an inaugural teachers’ conference aimed at greater capacity building and networking.

These are indeed laudable benefits to our teachers who have played, and continue to play, a key role in molding our nation. As the African saying goes, no nation can advance beyond the level of its teachers. Apart from imparting knowledge, skills and attitudes, they also serve as role models especially among children and youths.

This is why no amount of emoluments or benefits given to our teachers can be considered too much. Indeed, it is not possible to compensate teachers to the full extent of their contribution to society. Teaching, it has to be said, is one of the oldest and noblest of professions. And yet teachers throughout the world are not considered to among the high earners in society. To a large extent, teachers have been subsidising the full cost of education by working for relatively modest salaries and it is only fitting that society should, to the extent possible, reciprocate.

Teaching, we are so often reminded, is not simply a job. It is a vocation or what some refer to as a calling. It is about changing lives and inculcating knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for society to advance socially, economically, culturally and technologically. And even though the salaries and benefits may not measure up to the full value of their contributions, it is that intrinsic joy of watching children grow and develop intellectually, emotionally and cognitively that has a compensatory element of gratification.

Our teachers are deserving of our respect. But such love and reverence must not be taken for granted. There are also high expectations by the wider society that teachers are required to live up to, having regard to the norms and ethics of the profession, which essentially is to put the interest of our children ahead of political or partisan interests. This, it would appear, is not the case with the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) which, under the current leadership of Ms. Coretta McDonald, has openly and unashamedly placed political affiliation above that of the national interest.

Teachers are being encouraged to act against their own interests and those under their charge. One would have thought that as a responsible union, teachers would have been encouraged to take the scientifically-validated vaccines against the COVID-19 virus. Instead, the union has fallen prey to an opposition narrative that seeks to project the government’s vaccination drive as a violation of the concept of ‘free choice.’

Nothing could be further from the truth. And that truth is that our children and the society are put at risk by not taking the COVID-19 vaccines. Instead of recognising that truth and prevailing on its membership to become fully immunised against the killer virus, the union is singing from an opposition hymn book. Even more disturbingly, it is joining an opposition chorus that seeks to denigrate the Minister of Education, Ms. Priya Manickchand, for the principled and forward looking stance she has taken on the issue of vaccination.

The attack on the character and integrity of the Education Minister by a video posted by Opposition Member of Parliament Sherod Duncan has been condemned by several organisations, including the Women and Gender Commission who described the attack as ‘vile and repugnant’.

But not a single word from the Guyana Teachers’ Union which from all indications has now sunk to a new level of moral depravity. Despite the several initiatives taken by the government to improve the quality of education delivery and the well-being of our teachers, there has not been any form of acknowledgement by the union which seems to be moving in high gear along a path of non-cooperation and confrontation. This is certainly not in the best interest of our teachers, students and the society as a whole.

Our Minister of Education, Ms. Priya Manickchand, must be commended for standing firm on the issue of visionary leadership, integrity and principles, despite the attempts by reactionary opposition elements to stand in the way of progress.