General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Coretta McDonald says the country’s Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo should not be “meddling” in the affairs of education.
This comment comes even as the union laments the government’s unwillingness to return to the negotiation table as today marks 12 days since some teachers have downed tools and taken to the streets demanding more money and better working conditions.
“I want to say to the Vice-President: you’re not part of education, stop meddling in education’s business, and allow the people who understand education to meddle in education’s business,” the GS told media operatives today at the protest at Kingston, Georgetown, where the Guyana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Exposition 2024 is being held.
Teachers, parents and supporters assembled between the Marriott and Pegasus Hotels, where they shouted in unison amid the beating of drums, hoping to “show the other side of Guyana” to the dignitaries, special invitees and guests attending the exposition.
As protests mount across other regions of the country, the government remains resolute that the strike is “illegal”. It was Jagdeo who noted that the GTU unceremoniously abandoned talks and began mobilizing teachers.
He said that the strike was initiated in “bad faith” since more than 20 demands were already met by the Education Ministry while others were in train. The VP went on to accuse McDonald of politicizing the issue, pointing out that she is an Opposition Member of Parliament.
But McDonald said today that it was Jagdeo who hailed her as a “champion” in 2018 when she stood against the very party she supports today, calling for the same increases and better working environment for teachers. McDonald was not a legislator then.
“At this stage you cannot believe anything that comes out of the mouth of the Vice-President, because this is the Vice-President who spoke so much. This is the Vice-President who had Coretta McDonald as a champion in 2018, when we took industrial action for the same conditions,” she said.
Jagdeo, last week, spoke about the possibility of reintroducing online learning, noting that more than 70 per cent of students are absent from schools owing to the industrial action.
McDonald, as a signal of her resoluteness, called on the VP to procure and provide the gadgets to students needed for virtual learning.
“Distribute it: the gadgets to afford the children to do online classes, because if you don’t have that then it’s a waste of time,” she said, before calling the VP “ungrateful” to teachers.
“Teachers taught you, and you have been ungrateful to them,” she said.
The strike continues amid the final term before the sitting of the National Grade Six Assessment, commonly referred to as “Common Entrance” – a secondary school placement examination, and the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), better known as CXC. CSEC is critical to students existing secondary schools and is a requirement to obtain jobs or admission to tertiary education institution including the University of Guyana (UG).
As the deadlock continues with no resolution in sight, the success of thousands of primary and secondary schoolchildren hangs in the balance.
