GUYANA-President swears in new members of the teaching service commission.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – President Irfaan Ali, on Wednesday, administered the oath of office to the seven-member Teaching Service Commission (TSC) despite the absence of a leader of the Opposition, whose “meaningful consultation” is needed regarding the appointments.

Among those appointed is the Chief Education Officer, Saddam Hussain.

The Guyana Constitution stipulates that the TSC be composed of seven members, of whom the President appoints three after meaningful consultation with the Leader of the Opposition.

However, Guyana has been without an Opposition Leader since the September 1 general elections, which resulted in the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) being returned to power and the newly formed We Invest In Nationhood (WIN) party holding the second-most seats in the National Assembly.

WIN leader Azruddin Mohamed has been seeking, so far unsuccessfully, to be sworn in as Opposition Leader, despite the new Parliament having officially met for the first time since the election in November.

While he did not address the issue during the ceremony, President Ali later told reporters that it was vital for him to appoint the Commission even without consulting the Leader of the Opposition, as required by the Constitution.

“It is an important constitutional responsibility that has to be executed. The minister came to me and explained the importance of the system itself. I don’t want a new term to start without having the Commission in place to make important decisions that would allow the quality of teaching to improve, and also allow more opportunities to be given to our teachers,” Ali said.

He told reporters that whenever an Opposition Leader is elected as President, he will fulfill his constitutional responsibilities, but made it clear that, with or without an Opposition Leader, the work of the Government must continue.

A member of the coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which had been the main opposition party in the last Parliament, said the party had warned that, in the absence of an Opposition Leader, President Ali would make unilateral appointments in breach of the Constitution.

“This is precisely the kind of constitutional erosion we in the APNU have been warning about. A maturing dictatorship is unfolding before our eyes, fed and sustained by none other than President Irfaan Ali,” Ganesh Mahipaul, an opposition legislator, said in a statement.

He said the non-election of a Leader of the Opposition is no fault of the Opposition, as it is the Speaker of the Assembly, who was appointed by the Government and was one of the governing party’s candidates at the elections, who has been refusing to allow the election of the Opposition Leader to take place.

In his address, President Ali said the Minister of Education, Sonia Parag, had made a case for the Commission’s reconstitution and, in doing so, provided a statistical analysis of vacancies and the need for promotions and other advancements in the teaching profession.

He said there are an estimated 2,700 senior vacancies within schools across the country.

“Now, these are not senior vacancies that traditionally exist in the system; these are senior vacancies created also by this Government so that we can have a more qualitative delivery of holistic education.

“Several new positions have been created to facilitate the faster upward mobility of teachers. As you know, teachers in the traditional sense had to wait all their lives, close to retirement, to become a head teacher sometime,” Ali said.

Additionally, he said the Education Minister has advised that a second deputy head teacher would be appointed in Grades A and B secondary schools, as well as 60 second deputies.

Ali said that the TSC is entrusted with safeguarding the integrity, professionalism, and fairness of the teaching profession, and was created as an independent institution to ensure that appointments, promotions, and disciplinary actions are based solely on merit, fairness, and process.

An independent Teaching Service Commission helps safeguard professionalism, builds teachers’ confidence that they will be treated justly, and thereby assists in maintaining stable, high standards in national education.

“It is for this reason that the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana at Article 209 (1) of the Constitution vests the Teaching Service Commission with ‘the power to appoint persons as teachers in the Public Service, and to remove and exercise disciplinary control over persons holding or acting in such offices,'” Ali added.