-says union has not submitted financial reports to Auditor General since 1989, opposition opportunistically supporting strike

VICE-PRESIDENT Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has said that a significant percentage of Guyana’s first $1 trillion budget is allocated to improving the education sector, providing not only better learning environments for children but also a “comfortable working” environment for teachers.

The VP’s comments came on day four of ongoing industrial action by some teachers across the country, who are lobbying for salary adjustments to be made for educators.

The strike action began on Monday, which saw educators taking to the city streets, led by the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU).

Over the past few days picketing action has been consistent outside the Ministry of Education’s head office at Brickdam, Georgetown. And while the union has been persistent in its calls for increased wages, Jagdeo said almost 10 per cent of this year’s budget caters to the education sector, with focus being placed on better working conditions for teachers and increased training opportunities.

“Ultimately, it is about the students, the education of our children, teachers are just one component of this, an important component and we appreciate the work that teachers have been doing across the country,” the Vice-President said at his weekly news conference held on Thursday.

He noted that monies have been allocated for the rehabilitation of schools and the construction of new ones, and said that this ensures better facilities are provided for children and teachers alike.

“Who would benefit from this? People who go to schools, our children and our teachers. They would have better facilities in schools, so teachers could [be] more comfortable working [in] environment and our children can have better learning environments.”

Approximately $135 billion dollars was announced for the education sector in this year’s fiscal package.

In fact, the Vice-President noted that the government now is investing more into the education sector.

To further explain this, he said the education sector had received $52. 7 billion from the A Partnership for National Unity+ Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) administration in 2019.

That sum divided by the total number of students in the country, equates to $310,000 or $25,800 per child every year and month, respectively.

Using the same calculation to highlight the scope of investments being made today, he explained that government in 2024 is spending $125 billion or $57, 870 per child each month and $694,000 annually, after deducting $8 billion for the University of Guyana and the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarships.

“That represents the commitment by our government to educating our children,” Dr. Jagdeo said. “It is more than double than what the APNU spent.”

INVESTMENTS

Furthermore, it was pointed out that the government has been investing heavily to ensure that more teachers are trained.

He explained that with 14,000 teachers on the payroll, there is one teacher for every 23 children when compared to one teacher for every 12.6 children in 2012.

And the government in the past three years has hired more than 2,000 new educators and with more teachers, more is being spent in salaries although educators are tending to smaller classrooms.

What is worrying though, according to the Vice-President, is the percentage of absentees that has been cited.

He disclosed that on a daily basis, only about 70 per cent of the nation’s teachers report to work. This, he emphasized, has to be investigated.
He highlighted the increasing graduation output of the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) and the investments being made to ensure that qualified teachers are in the classroom. With this, he said, graduate teachers are getting higher wages that before.

“Under this government alone, graduate teachers have gotten 33-35 per cent increase since we got into office,” Jagdeo said.

He explained that the objective has been to ensure that more teachers go into the skilled category.

“There is [sic] massive amounts of money in the budget for training of teachers,” he added.

‘GTU NOT CREDIBLE’

Shifting his attention to the GTU, he noted that the union’s current state of affairs makes the body “not credible.”

According to the Vice-President, the union has not submitted an audit report since 1989 or a financial statement since 2004.

These discrepancies could see the union being convicted and fined by the courts.

“This is not a credible body anymore…when people argue for collective bargaining they must be accountable.”

In noting that the opposition has been “opportunistically” supporting the strike, he called out the union’s General Secretary Coreeta McDonald, who is also an opposition Member of Parliament.

McDonald has for the past four days been at the forefront of the picketing exercise.

On Monday, the union leader had said that if wages are deducted from teachers who participated in the industrial action, the body has been engaged by ‘corporate sponsors’ to reimburse teachers.

However, Jagdeo on Thursday urged teachers to scrutinise the union on its accountability and explain how these wages will be reimbursed.

According to the GTU, more than 50 per cent of teachers are participating in the strike.

Jagdeo explained that if 50 per cent of the country’s educators are to be paid, that would amount to more than $300 million.

He noted that teachers should press the union about the mechanism that will be in place to reimburse them, given the body’s lack of transparency over the years.

“How do they pay you? By cheque or cash? Who do they pay the money for? How do we know it is not funnelled to people’s pockets? It’s so not transparent and I’m surprised no one has pressed them on this,” he said.