Following publication of the preliminary report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into Guyana’s education system, Region 10 Chairman Renis Morian has come forward to refute claims that a number of “ghost teachers” were working at “ghost schools” in Berbice riverine areas, which fall under the Region 10 Administration, and were being paid within that administration.
Region 10 Chairman Renis Morian
Chairman Morian is contending that there are neither “ghost teachers” nor “ghost schools” in Region 10; but there are teachers who have been transferred to far-flung schools within the region, and there has not been proper notification of their displacement.
The damning report, produced by the Education CoI chaired by Mr Ed Caesar, was commissioned by Education Minister Dr Rupert Roopnaraine to examine the operations of the education system under the previous administration.
Describing the exercise conducted by the CoI, Caesar said, “We have seen pay sheets with names of teachers who, as far as the head teacher is concerned, do not exist.”
Morian, in defending his administration, pointed out: “There are some (teachers who) would have been sent, let’s say to Coomacka; but those persons (have), in the process, gone in to the Teachers Training College.”
In such cases, he said, the Region 10 Education Department should have written to the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) about the developments. Because that was not done, he explained, relevant documents continue to reflect the presence of those teachers at particular schools when in fact they have since been transferred therefrom.
Therefore, he explained, it is not a case that those teachers do not exist, but they have simply been repositioned.
In a message to the Region 10 Education Department, Chairman Morian recommended: “While we want to assist the teachers to be trained — because trained teachers are very valuable to the system — let us throw it back to them. Say, ‘Look, you sent this teacher to Coomacka, but this teacher just got in to CPCE. So we would like this teacher to be trained, but you sent them there’.”
Morian said he was “offended” by the report. He noted that the Commission Chairman should have returned and consulted with the Council on this issue. He said, “Mr Caesar was here, (he should have) come back and talked to the Chairman and Council; come back and sit down and talk to the Council properly.”
Morian has indicated that provision will be made in the 2018 budget for those teachers classified under the title “ghost teachers” to be brought closer to schools where they were assigned. This, he believes, will correct miscommunication while simultaneously provide for teachers in the best possible way.
The Education CoI was launched in various Regions back in 2015, as a means of securing information on what is lacking in the sector, and to make recommendations for future improvement across the country. The preliminary report containing this information was handed over to Education Minister Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine a week ago, while the final report is expected to be presented within the next few weeks.
