Teachers to get salary increases but no date fixed

Last Updated on Wednesday, 14 December 2022, 15:42 by Denis Chabrol

Teachers in Guyana will get increased salaries, but President Irfaan Ali could not say how soon.

“The day for teachers will come. As I said, it’s progressive. It’s  a holistic approach. We are dealing with the greatest anomalies in the system first,” he said. He cited nurses who were working for GY$98,000 would from next month be earning GY$160,000.

Pressed on when the teachers could expect salary increases, he said, “I don’t want to give you a time-frame but, as you can see, things are happening very quickly in this country,” Dr Ali said.

The President was questioned by Demerara Waves Online News against the backdrop of upward adjustments in the salary scales forpolice, soldiers, fire fighters and health care workers.

While assuring all categories of government workers would be addressed, he said as a priority his administration addressed anomalies.

The President said government was on an “aggressive plan to improve the overall welfare” of Guyanese. He noted welfare was not only about salaries bit about quality of life such ss the costs and quality of water, electricity. “Definitely, every sector of employees- their time will come. Everything is  done in a very holistic way,” he said.

The Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) has on each occasion that salary increases for those categories of workers were announced expressed concern that teachers have not received a pay hike.

Teacher migration, mainly due to low salaries, is a major problem facing Caribbean Community member states including Guyana and Jamaica.