All schools, with the exception of the Kako Primary School in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), are expected to be reopened today, welcoming new and current students all across Guyana. In addition, some 13,329 pupils who recently sat the National Grade Six Assessment (NSGA) would be entering the secondary phase of their education.
On a tour of the city, this publication observed that most of the schools indicated that they were ready for reopening today. However, the possibility of students at the Smyth Street Nursery School having a comfortable day seems slim since there is construction work still ongoing in the compound.
While the exterior of the schools indicate readiness to be opened, the interior might tell a different story since the sweeper/cleaners have all been on strike calling for proper wages.
The newly-constructed Smyth Street Nursery School is not quite finishedThe Ketley Primary School all ready to welcome students
The cleaners are being paid for six hours a day at a rate of $312 per hour. In addition, no National Insurance Scheme (NIS) payment is made for the workers, which will deny them in their senior years benefits the State has to offer to them. The cleaners were initially working eight hours per day, but a decision was made by the Education Ministry to reduce that to six hours.
Hence their salary is below the public servants’ minimum wage, which was adjusted to $50,000 per month. This practice is contrary to a Cabinet decision, which was made on November 5, 2003, for sweepers and cleaners to have wages set in accordance with the minimum wage of the country and for those payments to be made in a timely manner, according to Vice President of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), Mortimer Livan.
In addition, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had said that Cabinet was discussing matters regarding the state of sweepers/cleaners. However, no affirmative action has yet been taken by the Administration and it is unclear whether the sweeper/cleaners would be turning out to work. (Lakhram Bhagirat)
