No room for “lackadaisical” teachers in profession – Education Minister

– says consultations to commence for licensing teaching profession

Taking a stance that “lackadaisical” behaviour and “slackness” will no longer be tolerated from teachers, Education Minister Priya Manickchand on Tuesday announced that consultations on licensing the profession should soon commence.
At an event at Queen’s College on Tuesday, the Minister announced that consultations will commence in a few weeks, to determine the process and criteria for licensing for those in the teaching profession.
Students and parents will be involved in the feedback process to determine whether or not teachers can maintain their licenses. Minister Manickchand affirmed that stakeholders of the system can and must have a say.
“We’re quickly moving to a place where this noble profession that produces all the other professions will have to be licensed and regulated. Just in a few short weeks, we will begin the consultations on just that; how to license the profession and what will be needed for someone to renew their licences,” she underlined.
The subject Minister zeroed in on the need for teachers to deliver quality education. A survey done with students of Queen’s College, she added, found which teachers were performing below par.
“If you’re a teacher teaching the way you would want your own child to be taught, then teach on. But if you have not been teaching the way you want your child to be taught, we have work to do. In a survey of the students of the school, we got exactly which teachers don’t turn up to class, who don’t teach, who don’t finish the syllabus.”
Again, Manickchand maintained that there will be no space for teachers who are not committed to the profession.
She asserted, “I am saying nowhere in any school in Guyana is there space for that. If teaching is your profession, then teach you must. If not, we can find space in other careers for you but the country is moving to a place where lackadaisical, sloth, inattention to detail will no longer be tolerated in classrooms.”
The Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) has committed to having 100 per cent trained teachers in classrooms across Guyana by 2025 as part of the Education Ministry’s strategic plan. Two categories of untrained teachers currently exist in the education system: those who are eligible for admission at CPCE and those who are not. The latter group is being upgraded, so that they can enter the college programme.
However, responding to comments coming from the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) claiming that nothing is being done for teachers, she described the statement as “absolute nonsense”.
In fact, trainee teachers are benefitting from a full salary now, as opposed to a $10,000 stipend.
“We’re right now giving out grants to schools so that teachers get autonomy in their classrooms and get to independently supply to those classrooms, whatever it is they say they need to take teaching and learning further. We have given textbooks to all our primary and secondary school children or are in the process that makes the teacher’s life much easier.”
Last week, some teachers did not show up in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne). Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic when many children were and continue to be affected, Manickchand positioned that anyone who asks children to go without education is “someone without a conscience”.
“There are many different ways to resolve issues and I am hoping that the various bodies and individuals will address their minds to those consequences. Any time a child goes without teaching, I am concerned…We meet the Union very regularly. We have a very cordial relationship with the Union. We have very many different documents currently being perused by both parties. We have a fixed kind of arrangement where on any major issue, we bring them in.”
The matter of salary increases for teachers is being dealt with by the Office of the President. Recently, the Government also approved salary adjustments for teachers who were being paid below their minimum applicable scale.
In January, it was also reported that money has been set aside to cater to teachers in the National Budget 2023. (G-12)