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However, in the case of junior appointments, the Commission said some vacancies remained unfilled due to a lack of eligible applicants in specific technical fields living within or in close proximity to schools.
Additionally, the release informed that, while persons with passes in technical fields made applications, some were deficient in English and, to a lesser extent, Mathematics.
It said, as noted in the past few years, there were many who applied with 10 or more Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) or Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) passes in grades one to four, but lower than grade three in English Language and/ Mathematics.
The release said the situation was similar in 2012 and pointed out that a pass of grade three and higher in English Language and Mathematics is compulsory for appointment as a temporary qualified master/mistress.
The statement cited the unavailability of housing in some riverine areas and the difficulty persons experience in travelling long distances to reach some schools as other reasons for the unfilled vacancies.
The release said the Commission received 1,016 applications for employment from secondary school graduates as teachers at the junior level and, of those, 347 were employed.
Two hundred and twenty-six trained class one, grade one teachers and 86 class three teachers from the pre-service programme at Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) were added to the list, it said, adding that the in-service programme from that institution produced 245 trained class one, grade one and 30 class three teachers, who were appointed to schools, but were already counted within the system.
The TSC said the Senior Promotion Vacancy Notice 2012, which was published at the request of the Education Ministry, accompanied by the ‘Criteria for Promotion 2012’, attracted 658 applicants and, from that number, 315 senior promotions were made.
Necessary permission
The release also highlighted the importance for teachers who wish to attend the University of Guyana (UG) to apply for the necessary permission to attend classes.
“It is worth repeating that, every year, a large number of teachers attend the University of Guyana to improve their knowledge and upgrade their status in the profession. While the Commission is happy when a teacher upgrades his/her qualification, a number of teachers do not apply for releases to attend the University of Guyana as is required by the Ministry of Education,” the TSC observed.
Thus, it said, in some schools, classes are left unattended, which forces the ministry to take corrective action, which, sometimes, leads to teachers having to be disciplined for neglect of duty or irregularity by TSC.
The release said the Disciplinary Committee of the Commission also had to handle 34 complaints about the behaviour of teachers who broke the Code of Conduct and conducted themselves improperly.
It explained that some had to be interdicted from duty while, in extreme cases, others were dismissed. Apart from those, some were found guilty of sexual misdemeanours, including touching/fondling of students, child abuse, specifically emotional abuse, vulgar or inappropriate behaviour in school and inappropriate relationships with students.
The release revealed that “pornography reared its ugly head among teachers and elicited a zero tolerance approach from the Commission.”
The TSC reported that 39 teachers resigned from their posts and 134 left their employment without giving the requisite notice and were, consequently, dismissed.
The release advised that the Commission visited a number of regions during 2012 and held discussions with regional officials and education staff.
“The main purpose was to allow the Teaching Service Commission to interface with teachers in the regions. The other was to meet staff of identified schools, address clusters of teachers, listen to concerns and offer advice where necessary,” it stated.
The Commission is now commencing the processing of applications for 2013 senior promotions.
