About 40% of teachers absent daily – Manickchand

A critical issue is currently plaguing the education sector – teachers’ absenteeism. This was revealed by Minister of Education Priya Manickchand on Wednesday at an event at the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).

Manickchand revealed about 30 to 40 per cent of Guyana’s 14,000 teachers are absent daily from classrooms.

“Now there are peculiarities in the teaching profession.

“Most of our teachers are women, so you’re pregnant, you have maternity leave or pregnancy issues that are keeping you home, I would be the first to tell you to stay home.

“But that’s not what we are talking about – 40 per cent of our teachers are not pregnant every day,” Manickchand highlighted.

The Education Minister also flagged other issues like teachers neglecting their duties, incomplete syllabi and teachers failing to provide students with past exam papers.

“I got a message about a particular school very close by… I am going to be visiting myself, teachers are in the staffroom ‘gyaffin’ and all the classes left empty (while) we are three months away from an exam,” Manickchand stated.

And so, she underscored the need for teachers to be held accountable.

“We have to be accountable, not because accountability is the new fashionable thing. In our sector, accountability means the difference between a child thriving when they grow up or struggling in poverty, that’s what accountability for education means,” Manickchand said.

Minister Manickchand further expressed frustration with disparities in educational outcomes, particularly in areas with 100 per cent trained teachers.

“So we have a particular place in Guyana that has a 100 per cent trained teachers and I don’t see the corresponding better results in that particular place than a place that does not have 100 per cent trained teachers so the system will now have to cleanse itself, we have to move to a place where the system has to want more.”

She pointed out that the government cannot be investing in teachers and education and not get quality education and results.

To address these issues, Manickchand spoke about the possibility of retraining teachers and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to improving conditions for teachers.

“If we are going to change out what we offer, what we invest to make you the best teacher you can be, so that you can feel personal gratification, that you are meeting your calling, so that you can get a better pay and better salary…

“…what do you have to give back to these children, who in many cases you are all they have in that classroom,” Manickchand said to teachers.

Manickchand further highlighted that education has the transformative power to change lives and “if you are truly a teacher who pays attention, you will see that before you every day.”