May 28, 2010 | By Kaieteur News
Students cannot be left unsupervised – Education official
A senior education official in Berbice has issued instructions barring teachers from attending college during school hours. This was a direct consequence of an annual inspection of schools last year, where abseentism by teachers was found to be widespread. A senior official of the Ministry of Education yesterday stressed that this should not be a contentious issue, since it is clear that teachers are not allowed to leave classes during school hours.
More than 120 teachers from Regions Five (West Berbice) and Six (East Berbice), are said to be attending two branches of the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE).
According to an internal memorandum sent last week Tuesday by Region Six’s Education Officer, Shafiran Bhajan, to heads of nursery, primary and secondary schools in the region, an annual evaluation check found many classes to be “negatively affected by teachers’ absence…”
“The Department of Education has taken a decision that learners cannot be left unsupervised, especially at this critical juncture of the education cycle.”
The memo further instructed that teachers, attending CPCE (Inservice Centre), “should not be released during instructional time to attend classes and write examinations.”
Education authorities have been clamping down after complaints that students were without teachers during school hours. Earlier this month, more than 20 teachers in East Berbice saw their salaries for April being withheld for nearly two weeks.
According to reports, the Regional Education Officer had also sent a directive to Principal Personnel Officer (PPO) of the Region Six Administration, Shelton Daniels, instructing him to withhold the salaries of some 22 teachers across the region operating from Nursery to Secondary schools.
Daniels had said that the salaries were being withheld because the teachers are attending the University of Guyana, Berbice Campus (UGBC) without the authorized release from the Ministry.
He said that in order for a teacher’s April salary to be released, the teacher would have to visit the Department of Education with a copy of the release for Semesters 1 and 2 for attending UGBC.
Many teachers have expressed outrage at the handling of this matter and have expressed disappointment in the fact that the Guyana Teachers’ Union has remained silent on the matter.
A similar scenario – the withholding of teachers’ salaries – took place in February.
On that occasion, a memorandum from the Regional Executive Officer of Region Six had advised the Central Accounting Unit of the region to put teachers’ salaries on hold until UGBC releases were seen from those attending the campus.
Twenty-seven teachers’ salaries were withheld. This newspaper understands, too, that numerous deductions were made from the salaries for April due to teachers attending UGBC without authorized release.