President Bharrat Jagdeo recently met with Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) officials Coretta McDonald and Councillor Lesmeine Collins to discuss some of the conditions of the 2006 wage package agreement between the GTU and the Ministry of Education.
The Government Information Agency (GINA) said the agreement involving a multi-year package (2006 to 2010) was signed on October 11, 2006 and catered for a five per cent per annum across-the-board increase for all categories of teachers and one per cent of the wage bill as a performance-based increment per annum for eligible teachers.
The agreement included increased remuneration for teachers who have improved their qualifications, an annual clothing allowance of $6,000 per teacher, one-off duty-free concessions for vehicles for 100 head teachers per year, a housing revolving fund of $40M per year from 2006-2010, that is, $200M by 2010 to facilitate construction of houses for teachers. It also included 25 government-sponsored scholarships per year for teachers at the University of Guyana.