Garcia: Ministry did not deceive public

Education Minister Anthony Garcia Monday said his ministry followed protocol and procedure in gathering information from each school principal through its School Supervision Division in the seven education districts on the attendance of teachers last Friday.

The trade union movement had called for Friday to be a “day of rest and reflection” and for workers to stay home.

Garcia said the ministry did not deceive the public with its statistics, as claimed by president of the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Lynsley Doodhai in an article in Newsday Monday, “Doodhai says Friday was a success: We’ll see if it got Garcia’s attention.”

In a press release, Garcia said all the information was submitted to the director of school supervision, calculated and subsequently forwarded to the Chief Education Officer for review.

The TTUTA president was reminded, he said that there are over 700 primary and secondary schools in TT, “and to list 12 of those schools to prove a point of ‘full support’ is grossly misleading.” He said the ministry cited 50 per cent attendance at the primary level and 52 per cent at the secondary level as a total average of all seven districts.

Although TUTTA is a critical stakeholder in the education sector, Garcia said, and the ministry will continue to treat with the association as such, there must be mutual respect between the two entities, to achieve the shared goal of a quality education system.

“Making reference to the minister as a ‘master of deception and ‘hypocrite’ does not meet with the status of the leader of a teachers’ association,” he said, adding, “The union is also reminded that the concerns raised such as wage negotiations and school-based assessment payments are not within the remit of the Ministry of Education. These matters pertain to the Chief Personnel Officer and the Office of the Attorney General and should be treated with accordingly.”