File on suspected mentally-ill teacher sent to commission

A file on the teacher at the centre of protest action by parents of the St Stephen’s Anglican School, Princes Town has been sent to the Teaching Service Commission by the Ministry of Education.On Thursday morning, parents protested outside the school calling for the dismissal of a teacher whom they described as “aggressive and intolerable.”National Parent Teachers Association (NPTA) first vice president Clarence Mendoza said the teacher had been previously suspended for two years pending an investigation for abuse of a child. He said the teacher returned to the school in 2019 and is in a “worse-off condition than before.”Mendoza said parents are now running scared of being attacked by the teacher, who acts as though she is mentally ill.Meanwhile, a ministry official said school supervisors visited the school on Thursday and, after doing interviews, prepared a report which was then sent to the ministry.He said that document was then sent to the commission as it is the state body responsible for the discipline and/or transfer of teachers and principals.’The official said while the ministry did not possess the authority to remove a teacher from the classroom said they could make recommendations to the commission.