GINA -- Education Minister, Dr. Henry Jeffrey, has said that the 5 percent payout to teachers is in answer in part to a request from the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU).
"The union asked that we make the payout and then go to arbitration, but of course we couldn't do that," Minister Jeffrey told GINA in an interview yesterday.
And there was also the need for Government to ensure that teachers take home some extra monies for the Christmas, a point that the teachers themselves have been making recently.
Minister Jeffrey observed that the editorial in yesterday's Sunday Stabroek was one-sided, as it failed to address the dilly-dallying by the union and its delaying its readiness for arbitration until too late in the year.
The arbitration process was also negatively impacted by the teachers' strike earlier this year, as the Government could not go to arbitration while teachers were off the job.
Minister Jeffrey referred to the editorial's comment on teachers leaving for positions overseas, and observed that this was not peculiar to Guyana, as many other countries are experiencing a similar phenomenon.
He pointed out that generally teachers nowhere in the world are paid salaries higher than those of public servants with similar qualifications. In Guyana, many categories of teachers receive higher salaries than those of similarly qualified civil servants.
"All in all, we are paying what we can afford," Minister Jeffrey said.
Last week, Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, had said that another reason for the payout despite the Union and the Government not reaching a decision was also due to the fiscal year coming to an end. He said to ensure proper accounting procedures as well as to avoid the administration incurring any more liabilities unnecessarily, Government agreed to have the 2003 increases paid in the same year.