Having previously not confirmed a timeline for the establishment of the Teaching Service Commission, President Dr Irfaan Ali has now revealed that this commission will be established by this year-end.
The President was at the time in Region One (Barima-Waini), where he has visited a number of communities to hear the concerns of residents. On one such visit to Matthews Ridge on Tuesday, concerns were raised by a local teacher about the education system.
Among the teacher’s concerns was the understaffed working conditions at her school, Matthews Ridge Primary. It was at this time that President Ali revealed that the Teaching Service Commission will be established by this year-end.
“My friend raised the question with education and the Teaching Service Commission. The problem is that the Teaching Service Commission is not appointed as yet. And the Teaching Service Commission is not appointed and functioning as yet because we had delays,” the President said.
“We had to deal with the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition (Aubrey Norton) went to court, trying to block the appointment of the commission during the consultations. We’re now in a position, before the end of this year, the Teaching Service Commission is going to be appointed so that teachers can be appointed all across the country.”
During a side interview last week, President Ali had told the media that just one name is outstanding from the Teaching Service Commission. In fact, the President had said that he had been hoping to wrap up the process for appointing the commissioners last week.
“There’s a parliamentary process ongoing. As soon as I have all the names from the different processes, I’m very ready… I think there’s one outstanding name or something. I was hoping to wrap that up sometime this week. Still hoping… we’re almost in a position ready for the Teaching Service Commission,” President Ali had said.
The Teaching Service Commission, which is in charge of appointing and disciplining teachers, was last appointed in 2018. At the time, the Commission had included Avril Crawford, Alan Munroe, Elizabeth Ramlall, Amjad Ali Shaw, Debra Thomas, and Barbara Thomas-Holder. Then Chief Education Officer Marcel Hutson was meanwhile appointed as an ex-officio member of the commission.
On May 13, 2022, President Ali and Opposition Leader Norton had met for the first time and agreed to consult on the appointments of the Police Service Commission, Integrity Commission, Teaching Service Commission, and the Judicial Service Commission in keeping with the Constitution, which stipulates that “meaningful consultation” be held on these appointments.
But subsequently, Norton filed legal action to challenge the appointments of the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Integrity Commission, over claims that the President did not consult with him.
President Dr Irfaan Ali had gone ahead and swore in the members of these two Commissions after the Opposition Leader had failed to show up for scheduled meetings with the Head of State, citing that he was busy on the occasion of one of the meetings.
The new members of the PSC, who were sworn-in in May, are: Attorney-at-Law Lloyd Mark Conway, businessman Ernesto Choo-a-Fat, and Pastor Patrick Findlay, who will serve as Chairman. Businessman Hakeem Mohammed, who was also appointed to the commission, will be sworn in at a later date.
Meanwhile, the Integrity Service Commission has Demerara Bank Corporate Secretary Chandra Gajraj as its Chairperson; along with Attorney-at-Law Mohamed Haniff and former Solicitor General Kim Kyte-Thomas, Hardesh Tiwari and Wayne Chris Bowman as members.
Norton had moved to court seeking to overturn the appointments of the Chairpersons of the PSC and the Integrity Commission. Acting Chief Justice Roxane George had confirmed that these Chairpersons were lawfully appointed… a decision that it was reported in September had been appealed.
