Norton restates support for teachers
‘`…this is not a time for one-upmanship…our teachers are suffering, our children are suffering, the vendors who work around the schools are suffering ‘
Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton yesterday restated the APNU+AFC’s backing for striking teachers in their quest for higher pay and he lashed out at the government for being “uncaring” in the backdrop of this year’s trillion-dollar budget.
In a Facebook address, he expressed deep concern for the welfare of teachers and children.
“The government may be thinking that they don’t want to show weakness and must hold out against all comers but let me be clear – this is not a time for one-upmanship… Our teachers are suffering, our children are suffering, the vendors who work around the schools are suffering, the transportation workers who transport our students and teachers are suffering, every parent who has a child is suffering, all our people are suffering because this government considers itself above the people and refuses to understand that they are there to serve rather than to dictate and we condemn this intransigence by the government in the harshest terms possible”, he said.
Norton laced into Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo.
“Unlike Jagdeo when he was in opposition, we consider this issue too important to be dragged into a partisan political squabble, and instead choose to allow the teachers to have their say in the hope that good sense would have prevailed and that the government would at least have engaged with the GTU in an effort to bring this matter to some level of resolution.”
He added: “It is a matter of public record that during our tenure in government, when faced with a similar situation, the APNU+AFC government acceded to the demands of the teachers. This was not weakness or merely a political maneuver, but a recognition of the invaluable contribution of our educators to the development of our society. We understood then, as we do now, that investing in education is investing in our nation’s present and future.”
The Opposition Leader urged the nation to come together for change.
“The teachers and all public servants deserve better, our children deserve better, and our nation deserves better. Together, let us work towards a
brighter future, where the promise of Guyana is fulfilled for all its citizens. It is now patently obvious that if we want to see change, we have to come together and change this government. Together we stand, divided we fall”, he said.
On the sixteenth day of the teachers’ picketing exercise, the government continued to ignore the demands of teachers across the nation. Speaking in front of the Ministry of
Education (MoE) on Brickdam, General Secretary of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, Coretta McDonald, lamented that children are now at risk due to the negligence of the Ministry of Education (MoE). “Any fault with regards to our children not being able to matriculate at the exams will be squarely laid at the feet of the Government of Guyana. I want to say to parents now, your child’s education is important you have prepared
your child all through from grades One to Six to write the Grade Six [NGSA] examination and if they can’t write it and they have lost almost one term then you have to blame the Minister of Education.”
She echoed similar sentiments for those students preparing to write CSEC exams since SBAs have to be submitted, scores recorded, and submitted to the examining body.
McDonald pointed out
that the government has invested millions into the CARICOM summit, noting that while they could find US$2 million to give to the Caribbean climate adaptation fund, teachers were being neglected. “We are aware that this government could find monies to pay the teachers,” she stated, as she recalled the Vice President saying that if they are to increase the salaries of teachers the