Education Ministry attacks its teachers for exercising right to strike, calls strike illegal

The Ministry of Education in a statement has attacked its teachers for exercising their right to strike, as enshrined in Article 147 of the Constitution of Guyana. As the ministry attacks its teachers, Minister of Education Priya Manichand ignores her responsibility to engage in collective bargaining with the teachers in accordance with the Trades Union Recognition Law, as outlined in Section 23(1).

According to the ministry the strike, undertaken by the teachers with the protection of the Guyana Teachers Union, is illegal and is being monitored. The Ministry said it has noted, through its statistical analysis, that most teachers turned up for work Monday, and expressed “its deepest gratitude to all those teachers who reported for duty and delivered lessons to their students.”

The Ministry has accused the Union of threatening teachers who have not strike, an allegation the leadership of the Union has denied. Continuing to accuse, insult and demean the teachers the ministry said it is appalled at the illegal locking of schools by head teachers and the barring of students and teachers from entering some school buildings.  Persons found culpable will be disciplined, the ministry warned.

Further, the ministry announced it has accepted the opinion of the Ministry of Labour that it is illegal to pay teachers who do not report for duty without a legitimate reason. In 2018 when the teachers took strike action the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government paid them.

Parents of those students who are most affected by the strike provisions have been made to ensure the children are academically engaged via our learning platforms. Educational content across Grades and particularly for exam classes, is available on the Ministry of Education’s website, the Guyana Learning Channel (television and Youtube channel), and our recently launched app, EDPal as well as on the radio, EdYou FM. These are timetabled and schedules of topics and times are published on the individual pages.

Since August 2020 the Teachers Union submitted a Comprehensive Proposal to the Irfaan Ali administration to address wages/salary and working conditions. The Government for the last three plus years ignored the proposal and refused to engage in collective bargaining with the union. Even as government refuses to engage the Teachers Union and Public Service Union, Government announced it will meet the unions in the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) to discuss sugar workers’ wages/salary and working conditions. The sugar unions are aligned to the Government and those workers are primarily supporters of the governing People’s Progressive Party.