Governor General’s address for Teachers’ Month

Address by Dame Cecile La Grenade, Governor General for Teachers Month – 1 June 2023

“The GUT: 110 Years Old and Going Strong, Celebrating Teachers, Advancing Education and Nation Building.”

It gives me great pleasure to extend warm greetings to all teachers as you begin your celebration of Teachers’ Month. I congratulate the Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT) on continuing the tradition of dedicating the month of June to our nation’s teachers. The worth of your noble profession lies in what others become because of you.

It is, therefore only fitting that you devote one month to commemorating the founding of your Union, honouring your members, celebrating your achievements, and reflecting on ways to adapt and improve your profession in a world in which technological change is occurring at dizzying speed.

As many of you know, the Grenada Union of Teachers has the proud distinction of being the oldest trade union in Grenada. Founded in 1913, at a time when Grenada was under colonial rule, the union established, as its main mission, fighting for better working conditions and salaries for teachers and serving as a platform to articulate the collective views of teachers on educational matters.

Over many long years, the Grenada Union of Teachers has remained a consistent and instrumental force in securing important benefits for teachers at both the primary and secondary levels, as our island transitioned from being a dependent colony to a proud independent State.

The Grenada Union of Teachers can count among its many achievements the establishment of the Nexa Credit Union (formerly the Grenada Union of Teachers Cooperative Credit Union), a Group Medical Plan, and the Grenada Teachers’ Social Security and Welfare Association, of which the distinguished educator and son of Grenada’s soil, Sir Reginald Palmer, was a founding member.

Your theme this year, “The GUT: 110 Years Old and Going Strong, Celebrating Teachers, Advancing Education and Nation Building,” is therefore particularly apt, given the ongoing contributions made by teachers for well over a century to shaping the lives and moulding the minds of countless generations of our youth, many of whom have gone on to become prominent and highly respected members of our society.

Advancing education and nation-building are important tasks. To build a strong nation, we cannot focus only on academic readiness and keeping abreast of technological innovation. In today’s world, soft skills — interpersonal skills that help build harmonious relations — are equally important.

Despite the commendable academic performance of your students and strong professional development of many teachers, today, however, there is a serious deficit in the readiness of our students for the job market. Employers in all sectors of our society continue to express the need for young employees, fresh out of school, to be better equipped with the attributes needed to make the required contribution to their place of employment. I encourage you to make these skills a high priority, as this should partially alleviate some of the present-day deficits in students’ preparedness and offer opportunities for students to be better prepared for the working world as they will complement their academic training.

Teachers have great power to make the world a better place by inspiring and motivating students to be their best selves. You, along with parents, are the role models who will determine the future direction of your students’ lives. With that power comes great responsibility. I commend those of you who have acted as a support system where this is lacking in the home environment.

As you continue to focus on encouraging our young ones to live up to their full academic potential, I urge you to also devote attention to shaping well-rounded individuals by teaching them valuable life skills such as communication, teamwork, and decorum and instilling in them the importance of high ethical and moral standards.

Strong, committed, and dedicated teachers, as school and community leaders, will contribute to nation-building and, ultimately, to a prosperous country.

I thank all teachers for their contribution to the education of our leaders of tomorrow and wish you all a happy and productive Teachers’ Month.

GIS