Garcia: Teachers can march, but must make up lost time

Saying he was once a TTUTA president, Education Minister Anthony Garcia has said teachers did not only have a right to participate in Tuesday’s rally in Port of Spain, but also an equal responsibility to ensure students did not suffer from lost teaching time.On Tuesday, a contingent of teachers gathered on the Brian Lara Promenade to highlight their dissatisfaction at the slow pace of negotiations for a new collective agreement with the Chief Personnel Officer.Speaking to reporters after the launch of the Heroes of the Nation issue 5, Powered Up: the Ken Julien Story, at the UTT Point Lisas campus yesterday,
WED Garcia, asked his views on the march, said he too had participated in many marches during his tenure as TTUTA president. “I have walked this road already. I served as president of TTUTA for a period of 13 years and during that time we had to agitate for so many things, and part of our agitation was marches and therefore I see no fault in the teachers' union asking their teachers to come out and demonstrate so that they will have their positions highlighted.” He added, “It is also the responsibility to ensure that whatever is left out of the classroom, they will make up, and I was heartened to hear the (TTUTA) president say they will make up and I am sure that they will.“In fact I am appealing to them when they go back to the classrooms they will make up for whatever time that the students might suffer.”Garcia said teachers must remember they are professionals and ensure that students are well served and whatever setbacks they may have encountered would not affect their preparation for exams.“We want to ensure that these setbacks are things of the past so that our teachers will return to the classrooms and give of their best.”Asked whether he will use his position to get the CPO and TTUTA to meet at the bargaining table, he said, “The negotiations between the CPO and the union – those are directly in the hands of those two parties. There is no interference by any third party and therefore I cannot interfere in those negotiations.”