A group of parents are voicing their concerns over their children's inability to attend classes given the strike called by the teachers' union.
They said in the interest of the country's children who they say are being treated as pawns, the newly-formed Association of Concerned Parents has issued a call to both the ministry and the union to quickly resolve the present deadlock.
The call came as the ministry and union representatives continued discussions before an advisory committee.
The association was established last Saturday, at a meeting held by the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) for PTA executives from schools in and around Georgetown. It is intended to update parents and find possible solutions to the deadlock. At Saturday's meeting a five-member steering committee was elected, comprising Anthony Blair, Letroy Cummings, Malcolm Fredericks, Charmaine Jones and Fiona Clarke.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday at the GTU Hall, Woolford Avenue, Blair, Cummings and Fredericks expressed concern that children were not in the classroom while examinations were fast approaching.
Blair, although stressing the association's impartiality, stated that the body was in sympathy with the teachers. He said after having carefully assessed the situation, the time had come for parents to lift their voices and let them be heard since "for too long children have been used for one person's convenience or other."
And he further pledged that the Association was prepared to take whatever step is needed within the ambit of the law, "to ensure our children are not neglected any further and their legal rights are not trampled on."