Dear Editor,
I share the concerns of Ms. McDonald, the Guyana Teachers鈥 Union head, concerned over a new teacher recruitment drive by a US group (SN, June 22, 2025). In our new oil economy, we need to be able to retain all our trained human resources personnel, many of whom were funded by taxpayers鈥 money. Our government needs to have a deliberate policy to retain teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers and all others, using a systems approach, not random acts of improvement. For instance, doctors getting $4,000 for extra duty is simply backward and unacceptable. This must change ASAP.
I noticed the recruiting company is recruiting for the State of North Carolina (NC). This is what teachers should know about NC. The laws do not permit unions for teachers and government workers in the public sector. That is illegal. There are unions only in the private sector and those are subjected to organized union-busting activities. Teachers cannot strike in NC. There is a NC Association of Educators (NCAE) but they have 鈥渃ollective begging鈥 rights, not 鈥渃ollective bargaining鈥 rights. Annually, the NCAE begs for a raise 鈥 鈥減lease, pretty please, give us a raise鈥 but the Republican controlled legislature gives them 1 or 2 or 3%, if any. They mostly get a small bonus instead of a raise on the base salary. NC was among the states with the lowest pay for teachers. If NC teachers got raises of 8, or 9, or 10% as in Guyana, they would think they died and gone to heaven!
Unlike Guyana where you get 3 months leave, NC teachers do not get special maternity leave. You take whatever leave you have. Most are back on the job quickly. In NC, you do not get 2 or 3 weeks leave for Easter and Christmas. The few days off that you get are taken from your leave entitlement. You do not get pay for your summer months, as in Guyana.
NC will not give you a house lot. Homes are now expensive. Rent will be expensive. A teacher who is single will struggle. You will need a second job. You will only be able to get by if you are married and both parties work. You will be able to buy a car easily as you will get a car loan as long as you have a job. (And they don鈥檛 have these ridiculous duties and VAT on cars, as we have in Guyana). NC will not give you free higher education. You will pay your fees on your own or you will need to get a student loan. You will get no extra pay for grading papers as in Guyana (that鈥檚 part of your core function as a teacher), no uniform allowance, no allowances of any kind, no extra pay for extra lessons, no cash grants. Only sports coaches who put in a lot of extra time will get stipends. They expect you to be a 鈥渢eam player鈥 focused on the children and doing extra things joyfully to help children.
In the USA, you will not get away with going to school late. You will get fired quickly after warnings. Your lame excuses will not work there. You will not get away with arriving late for your classes or finishing lessons 10-15 minutes before. You will have to do 鈥渂ell-to-bell鈥 teaching. Students being left unsupervised is a 鈥渘o-no.鈥 All students have to be under constant supervision from the time they arrive at school until they leave in the afternoon. Unlike Guyana where students are mostly unsupervised, in the USA, each teacher will be expected to do duties in the morning, duties at lunch, duties at dismissal time, and any other duties assigned on a rotation basis. There is an annual teacher appraisal. If you have one area on your evaluation with a 鈥渘eeds improvement,鈥 you will most likely be placed on an action plan. If you do not improve, your contract will be terminated. If your students are not passing/performing well, you will be held personally accountable for results, unlike Guyana where there are no consequences, and there is a high failure rate and low matriculation rate.
Know that if you are going to be absent, you have to send in proper lesson plans so a paid 鈥渟ubstitute teacher鈥 can carry on with your class. US schools are not 鈥渓oosey-goosey鈥 as we do in Guyana. Unlike Guyana, where teachers do little or nothing to build student leadership and student participation, in NC/USA, all teachers will be expected to sponsor a club or participate in some student activity to create student engagement. Unlike Guyana where teachers and 鈥渁dult agendas鈥 are the focus, in the USA, the focus is on students, and student interests are at the heart and centre of what schools do. In any state, there is a School Law book or Manual that governs the work of the schools. A school administrator must take a course in School Law as part of their Masters Degree in Leadership training, which is required to become a school principal, unlike Guyana where mostly minimally qualified and inexperienced folks become principals. Lastly, the USA today is in convulsion making itself unfriendly to foreigners and people of colour. So I say to teachers, look before you leap!
Dr. Jerry Jailall
Civil Society Advocate