No action against protesting teachers

The Ministry of Education is not contemplating any action against the teachers involved in Tuesday's protest action led by the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA).
The teachers were calling on the Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) Angela Gervais to start the negotiations for the period 2014-2017 to improve their salaries.

Minister of Education Anthony Garcia told Newsday, after the opening of Parliament at Tower D at the International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain, that his ministry will do all in its power “to ensure students do not suffer a disadvantage."
“The Ministry of Education, in recognising teachers’ rights – which is a part of the law – will not be contemplating any action,” he said.

Hundreds of teachers abandoned classes on Tuesday to gather on the Brian Lara Promenade, Port of Spain, wearing red, demanding a counter-proposal for their collective agreement.
In November 2015, TTUTA submitted its proposal to Stephanie Lewis, past CPO, for a new collective agreement under former TTUTA president Davanand Sinanan.
Since 2015, TTUTA has made several unsuccessful attempts to get the CPO to begin discussions.

TTUTA president Lynsley Doodhai urged teachers to “get ready to battle even more” as they were tired of the disrespect and neglect from the CPO and the Finance Ministry and were not prepared to wait any longer.
Garcia told Newsday he understood there are “fundamental rights teachers enjoy” and among those rights are to join a trade union of their choice and “to stage protest action so that their claims can be ventilated in the public domain.”

Garcia assured parents, amid the industrial action by teachers, that children will be taken care of and “whatever time is lost going into the protest, that time will be made up.”
He said he was happy to hear Doodhai say during Tuesday’s protest that the teachers will make up whatever school time was lost. Garcia said he hoped the teachers keep their word.

“Where the Ministry of Education is concerned, we have a responsibility to ensure our students are beneficiaries of the quality of education to which we are determined to serve our students. In this respect, we are going to ensure our principals, in the first instance, will do everything to ensure that the curriculum is implemented in accordance with the ministry.”

He said school supervisors will be mandated to make extra visits to schools to provide the necessary support to principals, teachers and heads of departments.
Asked about the status of the negotiations, Garcia said this matter is in the hands of the Ministry of Finance and the CPO. “Terms and conditions of service, the Ministry of Education doesn’t get involved in that,” he said.

TTUTA's general council is expected to hold an emergency meeting next Wednesday to discuss the membership’s next protest.