Doodhai: teaching not just a job but a vocation

Teachers have a powerful role to play in ensuring that the youth become educated, productive and law-abiding members of society.

So said Lynsley Doodhai, President of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA), who called on teachers to not neglect their duty to students, and to see teaching not as a job but as a vocation.

He was addressing teachers at the opening and awards function of the 78th Tobago Teachers’ Get-Together last Thursday, hosted by TTUTA at the Tobago Nutrition and Cooperative Society Building in Canaan.

Noting the theme of the Get-Together, “Teaching and Leadership in Challenging Times,” Doodhai said this was to recognise that the job of teachers and principals was becoming more difficult.

He noted specifically recent incidents of violence at Tobago’s schools – an incident where Signal Hill Secondary’s Jaden Pereira was seriously injured during a brawl with his peers; the assault of a Standard Two Bon Accord Primary teacher by a group of Standard 5 students; the assault of a teacher also at the Bon Accord school, by a parent; and an incident where a female parent appeared in court for allegedly trying to gain entry to the principal’s office at Signal Hill Secondary.

“Due to the challenging times in which teachers now operate, it is even more imperative that as educators we recognise the important and powerful role that we all have to play in ensuring that our youths become educated, productive and law-abiding members of society.

“I take this opportunity to call on all teachers to not abdicate their responsibilities as teachers but rather to re-educate themselves… Do not see teaching as a job but as a vocation,” he said.

Doodhai also noted an April 23 protest by teachers outside the head office of the Division of Education in a bid to affecting schools and work conditions be dealt with.

“While these matters will seem trivial to some, they represent matters that impact on the very livelihood of teachers and has a demoralising effect, ultimately impacting on levels of commitment and output in the classrooms.

“It was a last resort after all other acceptable industrial relations approaches had been explored. The picket action was an unqualified success and from all reports has begun to show results as dormant issues have suddenly become actionable,” he said. Assistant Secretary in the Office of the Chief Secretary with responsibility for Education, Marisha Osmond, noting the theme of the Get-Together, advised that to deal with challenges, teachers must “make efficient use of the available resources.” Osmond also encouraged teachers to work hard and work smart.

“Let us continue to teach so that the world can see the beneficiaries of all the work. You don’t have to be an extraordinary person like Mother Theresa or Martin Luther King Jr to show principled leadership and make a difference. “Supervisors, principals, teachers, TTUTA officers, all of us can be great leaders which requires close and constant introspection… The task is hefty but once we work together, once we work hand in hand, I know we are all quite capable,” she said.