by Linda Straker
- World Teachers’ Day will be commemorated globally on 5 October
- Allowances were removed from principals after government enforced latest collective bargain
- Bartholomew also wants teachers who are acting principals to receive some form of payment
Jude Bartholomew, President of the Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT), wants the government to resume paying allowances that were removed from principals of both primary and secondary schools after the government enforced the latest collective bargain for teachers.
“The Grenada Union of Teachers, in the last negotiating cycle, we negotiated a benefit for principals; nobody wanted to be a principal because principals were the lowest paid. The pay was even lower than teachers who were in the system,” he said to the media during a news conference on Monday, 29 September 2025.
“We successfully negotiated to bring up the pay and grade of principals, the primary schools principals from H to I and secondary schools principals from I to J and what the principals are saying, even while they receive payment of the new grade, somehow the Ministry of Education have gotten rid of the allowances,” he added.
“The principals are saying it is unjust, it’s unfair,” said Bartholomew, who recommended that the government restore the allowances in recognition of World Teachers’ Day, which will be commemorated globally on 5 October. The GUT will hold its activity on Friday, 3 October at St John’s Anglican School.
Besides resuming the payment of allowances to principals, Bartholomew also wants the teachers who are acting as principals to receive some form of payment for their service to the education system. He also called on the government through the Ministry of Education to pay the seniority allowance to teachers who complete teachers’ college. He said that payment has been in a collective agreement clause over the years, and administrations have failed to make this payment to those who qualify for it.
“Only one set of people who received that. Once you finish college as a qualified teacher and you pass 3 appraisals, you should be receiving the seniority allowance, and it has not been paid across administrations… it should not stop until the government has a new pay and grade for teachers,” he said.
