Teachers from across the country took to the streets of Georgetown yesterday in a protest march to press their case for salary increases for 2002.
While schools in Georgetown were largely closed yesterday, across the country many were open if only for exam students.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education is preparing to implement a number of contingency plans to assist the children preparing for the Secondary Schools Entrance Examinations (SSEE), Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and General Certificate of Education (GCE) examinations in case of an extended strike.
Contacted yesterday about the plans, Minister of Education, Dr Henry Jeffrey told this newspaper that the ministry had asked, through the various education departments, all head teachers to submit a plan of action as requested by the Chief Education Officer, Ed Caesar. This was to help those children due to write their exams a few weeks away - in the case of the SSEE, next month, and the CXC and GCE examinations, in May/June.
Where necessary education departments are to ensure that part-time teachers are employed to make up for the loss of teaching time as a consequence of the industrial action.
Where possible the ministry has recommended that shift systems should be put in place with schools that are unaffected by the strike action. Teachers, the memorandum said, would be compensated appropriately.
The ministry is also asking the heads of the education departments to seek the assistance of Parent Teachers Associations to engage the services of qualified parents/guardians on a voluntary basis.
Regional Education Officers (ReDOs) and in the case of Georgetown, the Assistant Chief Education Officer have been asked to uplift keys from those head teachers who responded to the strike action, and that heads must ensure that entry points to the schools are opened during school hours.
The ReDOs have been asked to ensure that all schools are open and where necessary, keys are lodged at the Education Department, or, at the nearest police station until such time that there was restoration to normalcy.
Meanwhile the march, organised by the Guyana Teachers' Union (GTU), saw the participation of more than a thousand teachers, who came from all regions save for 1, 8 and 9.
The GTU President Sydney Murdock yesterday described the march as an unprecedented success, noting that the GTU had never expected the numbers which had turned out.
The march began at GTU headquarters on Woolford Avenue, Thomas Lands, after 10:00 am and was led by Murdock, with the parade assembled at some sections in rows of threes and cordoned by ropes on both sides.
Chanting "No money! No Work!" and "School shut down! Let the money come!" the parade made its way into Camp road and then into Lamaha street. The huge crowd, which snaked along, and at one point which stretched a distance between Camp road and Main street, paralysed traffic as it marched on. The marchers then made their way to Church street, into the Avenue of the Republic and along Brickdam to the Ministry of Education. The teachers stopped briefly to demonstrate in front of the ministry, holding up their placards while some repeatedly chanted, "We fed up!" and "Sell ya Prado! Pay we!" as some staff of the ministry looked on.
The crowd also displayed placards some of which read "Teachers are tired of vending/Our salary certainly needs mending;" "Teachers have bills to pay;" "God saw my work and he was pleased. Then he looked at my salary, bent his head and cried bitterly", "Minister Jeff, do unto others as you would have them do unto you" and "If yuh kay/Increase we pay/We gon stay".
One teacher who stood at the head of the parade with a mock pressure cooker fastened on her head read "So you're tough meat eh! We got the pressure."
Speaking with reporters after the march, Murdock questioned the decision taken by the Ministry of Labour to establish an advisory committee which was meant to inquire into the dispute. He described the creation of the committee as "just a play for time."
Asked about the request by Chief Labour Officer Mohammed Akeel for the discontinuation of the strike while the committee proceeded with its work, Murdock said as he understood it, the terms of reference of the committee were to inquire into the dispute and only to make recommendations.
"What guarantee do the teachers have that their concerns will be addressed?" he asked, while noting that there were no provisions for the recommendations of the committee to be of a binding effect. He said they would not end the strike until the terms of resumption were iron clad.
When contacted yesterday about a possible meeting to work out terms of resumption, Chief Labour Officer Mohamed Akeel told Stabroek News that at press time the union had not contacted him about talks.
He had appealed in a letter to the union to call off the strike to allow the advisory committee to do its work. He said that once the GTU was willing to discuss, he was willing to facilitate that process. He said that he had called the GTU on two previous occasions to meet with the Ministry of Education to arrive at an agreement on the way forward, with terms of resumption being on the agenda but the union had not been lenient.
He said usually the terms of resumption would take into account no victimisation, a return to the status quo that existed before the strike and deduction on payment of salaries during the strike over a period of time.
According to reports, the schools in Georgetown were most affected by the strike yesterday. Reports from the various regions were that teachers, mainly those preparing children for examinations, were back on the job.
Education officials in the regions told this newspaper that through formal and informal arrangements students preparing for the CXC and GCE were being given work. The same could not be said for Georgetown, though a number of students have told this newspaper that the experience was frustrating. In addition some have sought private lessons but have not been successful.
A number of parents have told Stabroek News that while they empathise with teachers and the situation was a serious one they felt that the union should bend to reason. The prolonging of the strike, one parent said, would obviously adversely affect the children in the long run. Because of the strike action, she said she was considering having her child tutored privately. Another parent said that as someone struggling in the current harsh economic times, the teachers' strike was causing her additional expenses she could ill-afford. She has to pay someone to look after her child while she is at work. (Miranda La Rose)