Teachers will soon have the advantage of receiving a loan to construct their homes through the long-anticipated Teachers’ Revolving Housing Fund, which is awaiting the go-ahead from a capable financial institution to manage the project.
Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) General Secretary Coretta McDonald, explained that the project was ongoing and the money was currently in an account at the bank, waiting to be utilised for the benefit of teachers across Guyana.
However, she stated that owing to the unreasonable interest rates being proposed by a number of commercial banks the Union has had consultations with, it was unable to run off the project.
McDonald confirmed that the amount of interest that the banks were expecting the teachers to pay was the same amount they would have to pay if they were directly taking a $2 or $3 million loan from the banks.
“This is unfair to the teachers. It’s not like the money belongs to the bank, it’s our money that we have acquired over the years. We can’t allow this,” she reported.
The Union will now be looking to have talks with cooperative societies to assess if they are capable of handling the project.
The fund is intended every year to benefit 20 teachers from across Guyana who would be selected to receive a grant of $2 million to facilitate construction of their homes. Teachers who have land with a transport, title, or deed in their name automatically qualify for the loans. In addition, the teacher must be a “financial member” of the GTU.
The beneficiaries would then be required to repay the money after a certain period of time, to provide for the next batch of teachers to be chosen the following year. The process would be an ongoing one.
McDonald had disclosed that over the years, the Union had been waiting for the go-ahead, it was able to accumulate $200 million to fund the project.
