Teachers from across the country are set to begin strike action today against the Government’s failure to meet and negotiate on their multi-year agreement that was submitted more than three years ago.

The Ministry of Education spent the weekend trying to convince teachers not to strike, with a flurry of social media posts and ads about some of the efforts made by the Government to improve the lives of teachers in the classroom.

However, the Guyana Teachers Union remains unfazed and said the strike will proceed as planned initially for seven days, beginning from today.

In a social media post, GTU President Mark Lyte said the Government has left the union and teachers with no other choice but to strike. He noted that over the past three years, repeated efforts by the union to meet and complete negotiations on the proposed multi-year agreement were dragged on, with nothing being completed.

He also noted that unilateral decisions were made by the Government that only benefited a handful of teachers, while the majority of teachers were left still looking for acceptable salary increases and benefits.

GTU General Secretary Coretta McDonald noted that the union has been doing its job and has made repeated efforts to get the Government to the negotiation table, adding that the union’s efforts were shut down.

Education Minister Priya Manickchand spent much of the weekend visiting Hinterland communities and meeting with teachers in those regions, trying to find out about some of the issues facing them and how best her Ministry could address those issues.

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