Following a request for transfer by Marcia Paddy-Andrews, Regional Education Officer (REDO) of Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), Regional Executive Officer (REO) Gavin Clarke said he was concerned that there had not been any sign of a replacement.
Region 10 REDO Marcia Paddy- Andrews
Clarke was at the time responding to questions posed by Councillor Charles Sampson, who asked for an update on the REDO’s transfer, which has been a cause for concern to the administration of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), owing to a lack of a replacement, among other issues. The transfer, Clarke noted, has nevertheless been signed.
“With respect to the transfer of the REDO, the transfer that came to me would have been signed and sent to Personnel Department and the necessary processes for advice as it relates to whom or to where, the letters from the administration is being sent, is being sourced at this point and time…It has been signed to be processed,” Clarke responded.
The REO added that it was the REDO who had requested the transfer some time ago, while he admitted that he had delayed same due to uncertainty and issues within the Education Department.
“In my view, it was more a managerial decision (to delay the transfer), in that, no one could have said to me, who is coming or when they’re coming…and that is my fear. We know the situation at the Education Department already, where we don’t have the required staffing or, further to that, persons who are qualified to hold those positions,” the REO stated.
Clarke said there was presently only three qualified officers within the Department, including Paddy-Andrews, noting that he continued to voice this concern. He said while he had no issue with signing the request for transfer by the REDO and the Council was in support of it, his concern, based on recommendations and requests, was who would be her replacement and when. In this light, Clarke went on to state that there was no way that the Administration could be efficient and effective without the necessary manpower.
Meanwhile, Regional Chairman Renis Morian, in an effort to have the issue resolved, said what the RDC would want to know was what were the vacancies that existed within the Education Department in order to pursue the matter from the level of the Administration.
“What we don’t want is what has been happening – teachers being plucked out of schools and placed in the Department of Education as a kind of holding business. It’s like a decade-old story we’re dealing with here with Education, where it is not being filled, and to help, we got to pull teachers and that is not the best decision,” he said.
The Regional Chairman concluded that the RDC would now seek a list of the vacancies to have the posts publicly advertised and professionally filled.
