Garcia, TTUTA talk pensions

Progress was made on the issues of pension processing and performance appraisals when the Education Ministry met with TTUTA for discussions on Friday.

A ministry release stated that senior executives of the ministry and the TT Unified Teachers Association discussed various matters including funding for schools, housing for teachers, school transportation, and arrangements for pursuing the Diploma in Education.

“First of all, the status of processing teachers’ pension benefits. When a teacher retires, the fact that, in many instances before, a teacher had to wait two, three and four years, the union recognises that there has been tremendous progress where this is concerned and they congratulated the Ministry of Education for speeding up the process,” said Education Minister Anthony Garcia.

He said, “The TTUTA delegation expressed satisfaction with the progress of the talks” concerning the performance management and appraisal process. He also said both sides promised to continue working together to improve the education sector.

The meeting took place at the ministry's Port of Spain offices.