–Dr Jagdeo tells teachers; assures nation’s educators of plans to increase remuneration

MAJOR plans are in store for the education sector, and a key component of this will be the increase in the remuneration package for the country’s educators, General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has said.

The General Secretary, during his weekly news conference on Thursday, said: “Remuneration will grow in the future,” when asked to comment on the impasse in negotiations between the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU).

“I want to urge the teachers to work with us, we have major plans for the education sector. Their remuneration will grow in the future. We have to be balanced… but in the future it will grow steeply,” Dr Jagdeo said.

Some $135.2 billion is set aside in Budget 2024 to realise the government’s vision of having a world-class education system here. In 2023 some $105 billion was spent in the sector in various areas.

Under the PPP/C Administration, the wages and salaries have grown by 61 per cent, according to Dr Jagdeo in a past press conference.
The wage bill increased from $24.4 billion in 2020 to $39 billion in 2023, representing a 61.4 per cent increase in salaries for teachers.

Moreover, the education sector’s budget significantly increased, from 51 billion dollars in 2020 to 135 billion dollars in the current year, marking a substantial increase of about 162 per cent.
This funding has enabled a series of improvements in the sector, including infrastructural development and the erection of several state-of-the-art education facilities across Guyana.
The GTU, however, orchestrated a protest to call on the government for more. On March 4, following a court-appointed mediation, the GTU had called off its protest and agreed for the striking teachers to return to their classrooms.

However, on March 12, talks between the GTU and the Education Ministry broke down again, after the ministry upheld the government’s position that discussions surrounding salary increases should be from 2024 onwards.

The GTU had asked for a 20 per cent increase and indicated that they are interested in discussing only salaries, particularly between the period 2019 and 2023, and nothing else.

The union maintained its determination to discuss only salary matters concerning the prior years and refused to address the other 25 matters, which were identified for discussion by both the Ministry of Education and the union.

This resulted in the representatives of the union abandoning the process and walking out of the meeting. Last month, the GTU withdrew its application seeking to force the Education Ministry into discussions regarding teachers’ salary increases for the period 2019 to 2023.