The Ministry of Education and the Guyana Teachers' Union (GTU) yesterday afternoon met to work out the framework within which they would conduct negotiations for salaries for 2002 to 2004 following the end of the teachers strike.
There was not a full turnout yesterday by children at the Winfer Gardens Primary, some of whom are currently being accommodated at the National Sports Commission building on Woolford Avenue. Teachers were, however, at their posts. (Jules Gibson photo)
The first of the bilateral meetings was held in the Ministry of Education boardroom in Brickdam.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Hydar Ally, told Stabroek News that the framework had been established and the two parties would meet on Wednesday to look at the 2002 salary issue first and then move on to the other two years.
According to the terms of resumption agreement between the two parties which ended the strike, the Education Ministry has committed itself to concluding negotiations on the salary proposals as submitted by the GTU within four weeks.
Meanwhile, teachers in Georgetown and Linden and other parts of the country who had taken strike action returned to work yesterday only to find the majority of their students absent.
The terms of resumption were signed on Monday afternoon and it was expected that the teachers would have been back on the job within 72 hours of the signing.
While many teachers in suburban, rural and outlying areas had been trickling back to their jobs since the strike took effect on March 5, the majority of teachers in Georgetown and Linden had stayed away with a handful conducting sessions with examination classes.
According to reports from the Georgetown Education Department the low turnout by students was expected given that it was Friday.
The majority of parents said they had not sent their children because they were not sure whether the strike had been called off.
One parent wondered "what was the sense of sending my child to school when the school week was at an end." Some are calling on the GTU and the Ministry of Education to put out advertisements to say that the teachers were in fact back in school.
The GTU is also charging that the deductions from salaries this month for some teachers in the Georgetown area who were on strike was in contravention of the terms of resumption.
But Ally told Stabroek News that the paysheets had been made up prior to the signing of the terms of resumption. He said the ministry would be making provision for deductions next month which would not be at the maximum.
According to the terms of resumption the two parties agreed that deductions from salaries were to be made in keeping with standing principles existing in the system for dealing with such issues and the necessary directive to effect same should be sent within one week to the Regional Executive Officers of Regions One to Ten by the ministry after the signing of the agreement.