Dear Editor,
I would like to extend on behalf of the executives of the Upper Demerara Branch of the Guyana Teachers’ Union, belated greetings to all teachers and Guyanese women locally and abroad on the occasion of International Women’s Day.
At this time we take time to salute all of our Guyanese women for their sterling contributions to all strata of Guyanese society and the world at large.
Today it is more and more evident that the women of Guyana and around the world are not content only to live as housewives. In our land and most other countries they are striving harder and harder for higher education so that they may participate in the civic duties of their community and nation. In times of war, women like men, have served their country and in some cases have fought side by side with the men against the enemy.
Our teachers have known and have acknowledged that the ultimate resource of any nation is its people. Unless this resource is employed for the benefit of the nation, unless the latent good which it represents is exploited to the maximum for the common good, the nation will languish, poor in spirit, lacking in achievement.
But no people can make their full contribution to the life of the nation to which they owe allegiance unless they possess and enjoy those few fundamental prerequisites indispensable to rendering their participation in the affairs of their country both possible and significant.
All the prerequisites that have contributed significantly to our nation’s development carry with them the imprint of women in our society. Mothers grandmothers, aunts, sisters, Sunday school teachers and the majority of the educators (women) at every level of our learning institutions have taken up this mantle and carried it with grace, courage, humility and great dedication.
The world is changing and significantly its advancement is being piloted with the help of women, and we all welcome their meaningful contributions and will continue to salute their triumphs.
Yours faithfully,
Jermaine Figueira
Chairman
Upper Demerara Branch
GTU
