POLITICAL opportunism dances with hypocrisy, a masquerade where principles fade in the spotlight of self-interest.

This is unfolding before our eyes, as a person, once appreciative and supportive of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s (PPP/C) initiatives for teachers, is now driven by political bias and her party’s agenda of divisiveness.

It is clear as day that Coretta McDonald’s affiliation with the APNU+AFC is overlapping her role as an executive of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU), since there is no greater explanation for her deviation from what had appeared to be an unbiased analysis of provisions for teachers under the former coalition government compared to those offered by successive PPP/C governments.

It was widely reported in 2018 when McDonald said: “If we look at what transpired under the PPP Government when they were in power and what is transpiring now…remember we didn’t want the five per cent. We made noise about it. But with the five percent we got a whole lot of non-salary benefits.”

In expressing her dissatisfaction with the coalition, she further said:
“For the first time in the history of this country, our teachers were able to get clothing allowance, duty-free concessions, and allowances for additional qualifications… while the PPP Government was in power… and you know I don’t want to sound political, but we have to make the comparison because of all the untruths they [the coalition] peddling out there.”

Ironically, McDonald is now on the side that once told and continues to tell untruths about provisions for teachers, and her rhetoric has conveniently changed as well.

With growing budgets for education and consistent provisions for teachers and students, it is clear that the PPP/C remains committed, as it was prior to 2015, to delivering betterment for teachers.

This is evidenced by the incumbent party’s fulfilment of more than half of the 41 proposals made by the GTU for improved working conditions for teachers in just three years. And both the Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo and Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand have said that engagement with the teachers and the union is an ongoing process.

A suite of measures has been implemented to improve teachers’ working conditions and these include teachers being provided termly with grants to purchase teaching materials, an increase in the stipend for CPCE pre-service trainees from $10,000 to $90,000, and the implementation of the EMIS system, which will eliminate most aspects of manual record keeping, among many other things.

Of importance too is the fact that the salary of teachers is significantly higher than it was under the coalition. And more teachers have access to tertiary education to further elevate themselves and increase their incomes.

So given the current provisions, commendable working conditions, and the active engagements to consistently enhance the lives of teachers, one could safely determine the motive of McDonald and her coalition partners who are calling for strike action across the country.

Educators need to now do their own analysis and decide whether they want to be led astray or continue along the path of progress, recognising the investments being made to improve their lives.

A teacher is entrusted with the responsibility to impart knowledge to the younger generation, so it shouldn’t be difficult for them to detect and see the political opportunism and hypocrisy unfolding before their eyes.