…demands
Teaching, it’s been said, is a “vocation” – a type of work you feel you’re really suited to be doing, based on your personal inclination and qualities, and to which you’ll totally give all your time and energy. But if truth be told, while that might’ve been true at some time for some teachers, for the last half century after Burnham destroyed the economy, it’s been just a job to put food on the table while you move on to better things – if you can!! Those old enough would remember teachers selling sweeties to students during the Burnham years to top up their wages.
We do know, however, that when we first came out of slavery, it was one of the jobs created that allowed us to put away the cutlass and hoe in the cane fields and put on “suit and tie”. And maybe it was this “moving on up” that created the notion of a “vocation” – teachers were seen as “special”!!
Now, dear reader, lest you think your Eyewitness is being mean-spirited towards teachers, he’s already told you on several occasions that he was once a member of that fraternity. So, he knows of what he speaks from within!!
Anyhow, this brings him to the longest running soap opera–cum-action-flick–of-the year: the teachers’ demands for increased salaries and benefits. Now, in the beginning, they got a great deal of sympathy from John and Jane public. After all, all Guyanese were hit by the rising cost of living. But teachers have a Union – the GTU – which bargains on their behalf for wage increases, and this is where the problem began. Like with everything in Guyana, the GTU’s dominated by politics, and the fly in the ointment was that some of its officials were PNC Executives and MPs!! Even well-wishers felt their demands for salary increases in excess of 30% annually was over the top. And political!
So, from where your Eyewitness has been sitting with his popcorn, witnessing the teachers coming on strike, marching with placards in the hot sun, these officials quickly became confused about their roles. The MoEd and other Government officials insisted that they weren’t bargaining in good faith, and the courts had to intervene to get negotiations back on track. And this is where the sh*t hit the fan!!
An agreement was finally made, and the new terms were duly signed, sealed, and delivered by the officials mandated to do so – including the GTU President – following the procedure of consulting with the membership. But just when everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the GTU General Secretary, who’s (coincidentally?) the PNC MP, accused the president of “selling out”!!
What next? Your Eyewitness just bought some more popcorn!!
…Spanish?
Your Eyewitness is a bit – actually, more than a bit – confused about our decision to expand the teaching of Spanish in our school system. And even outside of it. The reason given is that we need to communicate with all these Spanish-speaking refugees pouring in from Venezuela – and also with other Spanish speaking countries in South and Central America.
But the source of his confusion is that English is the most widely spoken language on planet Earth – far exceeding Chinese Mandarin. And even THEY are busy learning English!! But what makes our language policy even more ironic is that – as was revealed once again with the latest CSEC results – our teachers aren’t even doing a good job of teaching English to our students!! Shouldn’t we be focusing on improving our English?
So many of our citizens have become functionally illiterate in that language now they’re out of school.
Or will we be soon teaching Chinese to communicate with all the Chinese supermarket owners – and reading their Chinese labels??
…respect for women
Your Eyewitness knows that as we get older, our capacity to process information and make decisions becomes degraded. But shouldn’t the PNC Committee of Elders have pronounced on Vanessa’s alleged violation after two full months??
