Every October 5 since 1994, the world is exhorted by the United Nations – specifically UNESCO — to observe “International Teacher’s Day”. The body declared. “World Teacher’s Day aims to focus on “appreciating, assessing and improving the educators of the world”, and to provide an opportunity to consider issues related to teachers and teaching.”
From the beginning of the post-WWI Decolonisation Movement, the role of education had been recognised as pivotal to the aspirations of the newly created “developing world”, to catch up with the “developed world”. The history of International Teacher’s Day goes back to 5th October, 1966, when a “Special Intergovernmental Conference on the Status of Teachers” was convened in Paris to analyse issues affecting teachers and their profession. Finally, a consensual “Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers” was finally signed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and UNESCO.
The delivery of education in those countries that succeeded in leapfrogging the developmental process – especially the “Far Eastern Tigers” – demonstrated that teachers, through whom the education content had to be delivered, had to be treated equitably. But in many other Third World countries, the lesson on teachers was ignored, and was the reason there was the abovementioned declaration of “International Teacher’s Day” in 1994, to remind governments about the need to address teachers’ challenges. That the ILO was one of the signatories to the 1966 Recommendations highlights that, ultimately, the delivery of education depends of the efforts of the teachers, which have to be facilitated by governments.
Against that background, it is therefore very ironic that the “Day” to recognise them found the 10,500 teachers of Guyana in the throes of a bitter struggle with the PNC-led Government over their demand for a living wage. What makes the irony even more bitter is the Government insists that education was deemed to be at the centre of development by the PNC’s founder-leader Forbes Burnham, and they have vowed, through the present PNC leader, President Granger, to fulfil that legacy.
It is therefore clear the PNC’s leadership does not accept that the responsibility for that delivery of education is directly related to the well-being of the teachers who deliver the product. Earlier in the year, President Granger made a personal visit to the Guyana Teachers Union Headquarters, where he assured the teachers that his administration would be addressing the concerns on emoluments of teachers positively. Following a breakdown of negotiations between the Ministry of Education and the GTU, a Task Force comprised of representatives from the ministries of Education, Finance, Communities, Public Service and Presidency, as well as representatives of the union, was appointed.
The Task Force made a slew of recommendations, which, while not accepting the salary-increase percentages proposed by the GTU, was accepted by them. To their surprise, President Granger rejected his own Task Force’s recommendations as “deficient”. From then on, matters went downhill, as the teachers were forced to go on a week’s strike at the beginning of the school year. They were persuaded to return to work on the basis that the terms of the “settlement of disputes” according to the law would be observed.
Unfortunately, the Government insulted the intelligence of teachers by insisting that the Ministry of Social Protection be the “conciliator” in the first step of the dispute-settlement mechanism, when the Ministry of Labour, which had rejected the GTU’s position, was a Department in that Ministry. After that hurdle was overcome by both parties agreeing to move to binding arbitration, the Government once again insisted on gaming the system by nominating Government employees as their choice of Arbitral Chair and rejecting the GTU’s nominees. They then unilaterally appointed a Chair, in clear violation of the rules of voluntary arbitration.
Against this background, the Minister of Education’s statement on Teacher’s Day: “Your selfless contributions as educators, coaches, counsellors, and disciplinarians, who work tirelessly to prepare our human resource, can never be understated”, rings hollow. The Government must get off its high horse and pay teachers equitably.
