Children walking aimlessly on the streets when they should be in school reflects a failed society. Children being left unsupervised because their parents or guardians must work exposes the harsh realities of a cruel society. Children longing to return to the classrooms, missing their teachers, confused, and wondering why they are being left behind intensifies the trauma they already experience living in a country like Guyana.
Many Guyanese children endure what children should never experience. Many are abused or suffer because of choices made by their parents. Many are going hungry because of poverty or are neglected because their entry into this world was not planned. There are too many ways by which many Guyanese children are unloved.
Allowing a teachers’ strike to continue for months proves that the dreams of the children affected are not important to those who sit in positions of power. We must question if what they want is a largely illiterate society. After all, an illiterate population is easier to deceive and manipulate. Those in positions of power seem sure that they would not be punished by the disgruntled, marginalised, victimised, detested, and forgotten so they continue to push and punish a nation. They are not wolves in sheep clothing. They have long revealed themselves as wolves and the sheep walk around calmly hoping not to be eaten.
The people of this country are constantly disrespected. The intelligence of the nation is often insulted by those who pretend they care. They seem unashamed that they have allowed a strike to continue for months. They will go to court a million times to fight the teachers. What must we tell ourselves when the government fights against its citizens?
They are sending a message that they do not care if the teachers of Guyana must live like paupers. By their lack of interest in meeting the teachers needs and their 2030 plans, teachers must not become rich or even be able to fit into the disappearing middle class. Teachers are some of the most important members of this society yet we the people have sat and watched the disdain for them by those who pretend that they have the best interests of this country at heart.
How far will we go before we accept that these are all signs of collapse? How quiet will we let our voices remain? How does a majority allow themselves to be bamboozled, mocked, and disrespected by a minority of servants of this nation?
The disrespect that has been shown to our teachers should not be taken lightly. The cruel intentions of those who sit and suck the energies of this nation should not be ignored. Attacking our teachers is attacking the nation’s children. It is saying to them that they are not important. It is sending a message that turmoil is what this society stands on. It is setting up children to fail and become the new monsters when they grow based on how they are being conditioned by the messages they are receiving.
Last week Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo at his weekly press conference said that the government is exploring e-schooling and a voucher system that would allow parents to enroll their children in private schools.
“We have to, in the future, examine whether we’ll give parents a voucher to send their children to private school or not because we’re spending $700,000 now per child and it costs $300000 to pay for school fees for the child, we might as well give in some areas the parents the $700000 per child and then let them pay for the school kids.”
Does this not reveal that the government has no intention of compromising or meeting the teachers’ needs? Isn’t that why every meeting between the Guyana Teachers’ Union and the Ministry of Education has resulted in little or no progress? Does this not demonstrate how stubborn those in positions of power can be? Is the plan eventually to completely privatise education? Who will own the new private schools if these plans come to fruition? The same people who seem to now want to destroy public education were themselves educated by the public system. However, when one has been allowed to lord over the people long enough and has been allowed to get away with treating a country like their personal doll house, they tend to forget where they came from. Power can corrupt and result in madness.
Let’s talk briefly about e-schooling. During COVID-19 many of us parents had to assist our children with online schooling. It did not work for many if not most. The children did not focus, the internet woes and the lack of access to internet left many children behind during that time. We live in a society where we do not have reliable electricity. For example, this week the Guyana Power and Light announced that the frequent blackouts since the power ship are due to birds attacking wires on the ship. If we did not live in this reality, we would say that it was a make-believe.
At his press conference the vice president also when asked a question about if he is concerned about learning loss said that they are concerned. By their works you shall know them. Concern and care would have brought the teachers’ strike to an end shortly after it started in February with an agreement that would have left both government and teachers satisfied. We have seen how quickly the strikes of sugar workers are resolved. I guess the teachers do not deserve that. We can deduce that sugar is more important that educating the nation’s children.
An illiterate nation will show little resistance. They will allow themselves to be led even in directions that is to their own detriment. The government has demonstrated that they do not love the children that are affected by the teachers’ strike. They will say that the teachers do not love their students even though teachers have been sacrificing for years, even using their own resources in many instances to make sure their students get what they need.
It is said that education is the key to success. We can be born into the harshest of circumstances and liberate ourselves by being educated. We can rise above the expectations of wherever we were born and live life instead of simply existing. All Guyanese children deserve the right to an education that sets them up for success. In a fastest growing economy, the reality is that poverty is still rampant, teachers have been striking for months begging for salary increases and the children are suffering. Reprehensible.
