Strike balance between qualifications, invaluable experience in promoting teachers- APNU

Last Updated on Saturday, 4 July 2026, 11:59 by Denis Chabrol

The opposition A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Friday accused the Ministry of Education of  failing to consult the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) in developing a new teacher promotions regime which does not strike a balance between qualifications and the value of experience.

“The custom for decades has always been the Guyana Teachers’ Union and the Ministry of Education met and arrived at the criteria for promotions. It must be noted that the GTU was not involved in this new change,” parliamentarian for the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR)-led APNU told a news conference.

The Ministry of Education, when contacted on Saturday, did not immediately react to APNU’s statement.

At the centre of APNU’s objection is the Education Ministry’s replacement of the promotion system in which teachers had received two months for every year of service but would now get only one point for every five years of service plus “substantially higher scores” for academic qualifications. That parliamentary opposition grouping says a Bachelor’s degree is worth 14 points, Education Management eight points, a Graduate Diploma six points, an Advanced Graduate Diploma 10 points, a Master’s degree 15 points and a PhD 18 points. By its reckoning, APNU said Consider what that means on Bachelor’s degree is now worth more than 70 years of classroom service and a PhD is worth more than 90 years of service.

APNU said encouraging teachers to improve their academic qualifications was “commendable” but the  new system “unfairly devalues decades of classroom experience and places many experienced teachers, particularly those approaching retirement, at a serious disadvantage.” According to APNU, the newly implemented system deprives deserving teachers of opportunities for promotion, resulting in a lack of equity.  “The message being sent is unmistakable. Experience counts for very little. That is the unavoidable conclusion when five years of service earn only one point. Yet experience is where teachers develop judgment, leadership, classroom management skills, and the practical wisdom that no textbook can teach,” APNU added.

That parliamentary opposition grouping said teachers approaching retirement were now at the greatest disadvantage because the promotion system. According to APNU, many experienced teachers spent decades serving the education system when those opportunities were far more limited, and so they should not now be penalised because the rules changed near the end of their careers.”  “The greatest injustice falls on teachers approaching retirement. Many depend on promotions not only as recognition for years of dedicated service but also because those promotions affect their gratuity and retirement benefits. For them, this is not simply about status. It is about financial security after a lifetime of service,” he said.

In an effort to preempt the argument that teachers should go back to school, Mr Mahipaul suggested that advice would have no value for teachers who had already given 30 or 35 years to the profession were nearing retirement.