Dear Editor,
I was out of the country for sometime on an approved leave of absence. I returned a few days ago and have not yet caught up with the news about VAT, the Casino Gambling legislation or the brouhaha over the appointment of Mr. Esau Dookie as Headmaster of Saraswat Primary School, Grade B, Region No. 3.
A colleague telephoned me yesterday morning to alert me that there was an article in the Sunday Stabroek about Mr. Dookie’s matter. I went out and bought a copy of the paper and read the article with great interest. The article seems balanced and very well written, and I congratulate whoever wrote it.
I note that the article indicates that Stabroek News understands that a meeting of primary school head teachers from the Region has been planned “for sometime next week and Dookie’s new appointment, among other issues, is slated for discussion.”
As far as I am concerned, Mr. Dookie’s matter is a done deal. His appointment was approved by the Teaching Service Commission, he was issued the standard letter of introduction, and he has taken up the post. All that is left now is for the balance of the paper work to be put in place and the Government Order will be issued by the Teaching Service Commission.
When I was leaving for the airport last year, some reporter had approached me for a comment on the Dookie matter. I said then: “The shame is greater than the victory.” With your permission, I here re-state my position: “THE SHAME IS GREATER THAN THE VICTORY.”
I note from yesterday’s newspaper that Mr. Dookie seems to have made a number of extremely spurious claims which call into question his capacity to read and comprehend the normal rules governing promotion in the Public Education Service. Firstly, senior vacant posts are advertised at the request of the Ministry of Education and the minimum eligibility requirements are clearly stated. Secondly, interested, eligible teachers need to apply AND COMPETE FOR THE POST WITH THEIR PEERS WHO ARE SIMILARLY ELIGIBLE. Thirdly, the advertisement specifically states: “Teachers should apply only for those advertised vacant posts which they intend to take up, if offered, and in which they intend to remain unless they are transferred to a similar post or they are promoted to another post in a school.” The penalties for failing to comply with this requirement are clearly stated in the vacancy notice.
Those are the major conditions applicable to Mr. Dookie while he served as non-graduate head of a Grade E primary school.
I can draw a whole set of reasonable inferences about Mr. Dookie from the fact that he served for a long number of years as head of a Grade E primary school, when he was eligible – from that first day – to apply for, and to compete with his peers for, the headship of a Grade D school. It is no accident that the primary schools are graded as Grade E, Grade D, Grade C, Grade B and then Grade A – the highest grade.
There are complex constitutional issues involved in this matter – as in another matter involving the headship of a Region 6 secondary school sometime ago. For me, the Courts of Guyana may have to be asked to pronounce. Simply put: “Does the Teaching Service Commission have the right to reject and/or ignore the policy position of the Government of Guyana – conveyed to it in writing – and proceed to do its own thing?”
The floodgates are now open.
I call on all serving public school teachers who were members of Parliament and/or of a Regional Democratic Council to consider whether, under the rules, they are at this point in time eligible for promotion to a grade higher than the one in which they are now serving. If they are, I call on them to apply to the Teaching Service Commission for an administrative appointment in some reasonable vacancy for which they are now eligible for appointment. I am totally disinterested in which political party they represented. Totally disinterested.
For me: “Sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose or for another gander.”
For me: “Da same stick wha lick Tom, sa lick Dick.”
Yours faithfully,
George N. Cave, A.A.
Honorary Life Member,
Guyana Teachers’ Union