Government grants teachers’ wishes

Vice President Ashwin Adhin on Friday announced that the government will grant teachers’ wishes to a large extent and that the die is cast with regards to the revaluation issue. The VP explained that the government has divided the revaluation program in various phases and that the financial part is the first phase. The other phases are aimed at improving the quality of education in general. During the first phase, teachers will be given a raise of SRD 500 net. They will get the raise at the end of March. Teachers with academic degrees will receive more money than the others in the first week of April. The lowest salary for a teacher will be SRD 2,402. The VP believes that the teachers will be content with the government’s offer and that they will look forward to the other phases of the revaluation program. The government has reportedly put together a special commission that has been tasked with formulating and carrying out each phase of the revaluation program. The VP explained that nothing has changed for the religious schools and that there was a typo in the resolution. The resolution clearly states that the teachers from the special education sector will no longer be part of the Personnel Act. This sentence has created a lot of confusion and misconceptions. The teachers at the religious schools were reportedly never part of the Personnel Act. VP Adhin pointed out that the government is obligated to provide the financial part and the benefits and assurances. The VP also explained that the resolution is a part of the revaluation program. “One can’t start with the financial part of the program if it will have a domino effect on the other groups.”