Education Ministry concerned about learning loss as strike by teachers continue

With the ongoing conciliation talks between the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers’ Union continuing this morning, Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand noted the concerns of her Ministry about the learning loss that is being experienced as a result of the absence of teachers from the classrooms.

Teachers across the country resumed their strike action last Thursday to press the Government to begin salary negotiations and examine their union’s 2019-2023 proposal. The Government has been pushing for negotiations to only begin from this year and move forward.

At a press conference this morning, when questioned about the impact the strike may be having on the school system, Minister Manickchand said the absence of one single teacher from her class would have an impact. She noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Guyana feared better than many countries by implementing various programmes and initiatives that tackled learning loss.

Since the resumption of the strike action, hundreds of teachers have been staying away from their classrooms as part of their protest. Some schools have reported a rate of more than 80% for absent teachers, while other schools have reported a much lower figure.

News Source understands that even in some instances where teachers have been going to school, they have been staying away from the classroom and not carrying on any teaching lessons.

The teachers started their strike action back in February, staying away from work for almost four weeks. They only returned to their jobs after the union filed a Court case and an initial set of mediation talks began. Those talks eventually fell through, and the High Court in the matter filed by the GTU lambasted the Government for not engaging the teachers’ representatives in collective bargaining as is catered for in the country’s Constitution.