TTUTA doing nothing to help students stuck at home

THE EDITOR: I am disappointed that the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) seems to be totally unconcerned about the education of our children who are at home since the early closure of schools last month.

The TTUTA president and her union have done absolutely nothing for the hundreds of thousands of children who are at home idle due to the coronavirus pandemic. I have not heard of a single initiative from TTUTA to support parents and our students in this crisis.

TTUTA has the resources to organise even if it’s some online class for students. I am certain there are teachers who are willing to volunteer and the classes can be conducted using technology at home or they can operate from TTUTA headquarters.

This is not a normal situation and it calls for leadership and some thinking out of the box.

Instead, I read in the newspapers that TTUTA officials are talking about having discussions with the Ministry of Education to set a date for when students will write the SEA exam and about the ministry’s preparedness to do online exams.

How much more uncaring and insensitive can they be when the lives of our children are under threat by the coronavirus? These issues are totally irreverent at this time.

The focus now must be on keeping our student population safe and preventing the coronavirus from spreading. We do not know when this situation will return to normal. It could very well run into the next school term.

It’s time the leadership of TTUTA meets and starts planning some interventions to help our children instead of sitting back and hoping to ride out the situation.

JENNIFER MARSHAL

Port of Spain