The Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) today warned that the new criteria for the promotion of senior public school teachers, which places academic qualification over experience, could disqualify a large number of teachers.  

The GTU is calling for the new point system to be reversed.

At a press conference today, President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Coretta McDonald, explained that under the new framework put forward by the Education Ministry, total teaching experience after attaining trained status is weighed at one point for every five years, placing teachers with decades of experience at a disadvantage. There are vacancies for more than 2,800 senior teachers.

“Under the previously practiced model, trained service was recognized with two (2) points per year. Under that approach, a teacher with fifteen (15) years of trained service would have accumulated thirty (30) experience points. Under the current model, that same experience now yields three (3) points, a tenfold reduction in the measurable value of service. This is not a minor adjustment; it is a mathematical recalibration with profound consequences for career advancement,” McDonald told reporters.

The GTU President said experience in education is not symbolic, but rather it is an institutional capital accrued through sustained classroom leadership, mentorship of emerging teachers, curriculum implementation, community engagement and the navigation of complex educational environments.

Under the new point system, a teacher gets one point for every five years of trained service, three points for every four years of trained service in the hinterland, eight points if a teacher completes the Education Management Programme, 14 points if a teacher has a Bachelor’s Degree, 15 points if he or she has a Master’s Degree and 18 points for a doctorate degree.

According to the GTU President, the Ministry of Education broke established protocols and submitted the new list of criteria to the Teaching Service Commission (TSU) without first consulting the union.

“This year they went out there, set the criteria, put together the vacancy list and sent that off to the Teaching Service Commission without any input from the teachers’ representative. And to date, there has been no reason why this is happening,” McDonald said.

She said since last year, the Union has been writing to the Education Ministry to engage on a number of issues.  

McDonald said while the Union fully supports academic upgrading and professional development, the promotion architecture must reflect a proportionate balance among qualification, experience, performance, and sustained contribution. She said before any promotion is offered, the new criteria must be reversed, and consultations held with the Union.

GTU’s First Vice President, Mariska Williams, said structural adjustments of this magnitude should be informed by meaningful engagement with the teacher’s representative, adding that consultation is essential to industrial harmony administrative legitimacy and public confidence.

Williams said the GTU wants immediate structured engagement between the Ministry of Education, the Teaching Service Commission, and the Union regarding both the vacancy preparation process and the weighting criteria, in addition to a formal review of the experience-point allocation to ensure sustained professional service is valued proportionately, and a transparent reconciliation of the published vacancy list to ensure equity of access and a level playing field for all eligible teachers.

“Let there be no ambiguity: a promotion system that reduces five years of trained service to a single point sends the wrong signal to the profession and to the nation. Experience is not expendable; it is the backbone of educational leadership. When the value of experience is diminished, the resilience of the education system itself is placed at risk. And the Guyana Teachers’ Union remains ready for principled dialogue, firm in defence of equity, and unwavering in its commitment to protecting the professional dignity and legitimate expectations of teachers throughout Guyana,” the 1^st Vice President said.

Weighing in on the issue, GTU Regional Vice President for Essequibo, Thakurdeen Durga, said the Education Ministry must understand and respect the roles and functions of the Union as the teachers’ representatives. 

“And so, the point system that they would have formulated without consulting the Guyana Teachers’ Union, it is dangerous. I can say to the Ministry of Education, it is dangerous,” he said.

According to him, the new system will only discourage teachers, in particular male teachers, many of them who have decades of experience under their belt.

On Wednesday, teachers across the country wore black, standing in solidarity with the teachers who will be affected by the new point system.

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