The Literacy Department of the Ministry of Education yesterday apologised to the teachers who have not received their stipends since January, stating that the delay was caused by unforeseen circumstances.
“The Literacy Department of the Ministry of Education wishes to publicly offer an apology to the literacy teachers who have been affected by the delay in the release of stipends. We concede that our literacy teachers should have been informed of th
e unforeseen circumstances that caused this,” the Ministry of Education said in its first public statement since this newspaper carried a report on Wednesday highlighting the teachers’ plight.
Several teachers, who are part of the ministry’s Fast Track Initiative Literacy Programme, had complained on Tuesday of not being paid the $30,000 stipend since January when they signed new six-month contracts. They had complained that all efforts to get answers from the relevant authorities proved futile.
In the release the ministry reassured the teachers that “measures have been put in place to ensure that all literacy teachers receive their stipends during the coming week and that this never happens again.”
It stated that their contributions are invaluable while thanking them for their patience and commitment.
Stabroek News understands that the coordinator of the fast track programme Murphy Greenidge has since resigned. In 2010, when this newspaper had reported the plight of Georgetown teachers who were not being paid, Greenidge had indicated that they were not being paid because they had not submitted the required reports. The teachers however, had denied this stating that several of them had submitted the reports but they were still being denied their stipends.
The fast track programme was implemented in 2008 and while some teachers work in the school system others also work with adults as it is hoped that 14,500 persons — both adults and children – will become literate through the programme. The aim of the initiative is to achieve 100% literacy in the 2 to 35-year age group.
Then Minister of Education Shaik Baksh had launched the programme in April 2008 and $115 million was expended in training nearly 300 literacy teachers and to set up centres in most regions.
In Georgetown, 16 centres were established with 31 literacy educators targeting 465 students and 15 adults.
Eleven NGOs dispatched 51 literacy volunteers to 30 centres countrywide to train 315 students and 435 adults. The programme was inspired by the success of large-scale literacy initiatives in several other countries including India.
