TTUTA Tobago: more protest coming from teachers

Orlando Kerr, Tobago Officer, TT Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA), is calling on teachers to put pressure on the Division of Education to get action on challenges facing them.

Kerr made the call in an interview last Friday as he hinted at further protest action to force resolution on some 24 issues identified by teachers. In a protest march outside the Division’s headquarters on Dutch Fort Street onn April 23, teachers called for fair treatment with regards to promotion and placement, for improved teaching conditions, and proper staffing at primary schools, attention to security systems, and repairs to several schools as well as relocation of the Scarborough Secondary school, among others.

“Very soon we are going to be continuing with protest action because while we would have seen slight movements in terms of some of the issues that we were concerned about, most of those remain (unresolved) today, and that is the concern for the Association. It would be difficult to meet with the Division monthly, to sit and have discussions and the issues are not being resolved. I really have a serious issue with that and I think that we really need to look at workable solutions,” he said.

Kerr said that given the deliberations of officials of the Division, nothing was wrong in the sector as the problems identified by teachers have been around for decades.

“(But) everything is not fine in the Education sector, and until we accept that, and we sit and have the discussion about the issues affecting teachers in Tobago, we are not going to be in a better place. What we were asking for is for the benefits of all our students…We cannot continue to be reactive, we have to be proactive,” he said.

He said the upgrade of teachers especially was becoming an exercise in frustration, with young teachers who have graduated from the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) working at a basic salary after years on the job, and others waiting on appointments.

“Only last week, the last person in the 2010 batch got appointed… so that is eight years for someone who would have gone to UTT, sacrificed their family time, qualified themselves and they would have been working for an ATP (Assistant Teacher Primary) salary, and in most cases not getting an increment, so they are working at the basic. We have 87 persons (graduates) between 2011 and 2017. Of the 87, 21 recommendations have been sent to the (Teaching Service) Commission thus far, we cannot continue at that rate,” he said.

In terms of secondary schools’ appointments, Kerr said persons were awaiting appointments from as far back as 2012/2013.

“The Teaching Service Commission continues to blame the THA Division, the Division continues to blame the Teaching Service Commission and the teachers are in the middle. We need to put pressure on both bodies to deal with these appointment issues so that our teachers can receive their just due,” he said.

Kerr said the Division must also understand its role in creating proper working conditions for teachers especially in the provision of material and supplies to schools and ensuring security systems were in place.

“We have been getting complaints about not getting basic supplies and materials, we have schools with safety issues and these things are not being treated with,” he said.