Presbyterian teachers warned against misbehaving

WITH investigations into allegations of sexual harassment, criminal charges, insubordination and general misconduct among its teaching staff, the Presbyterian Primary Schools Board of Education is pleading with teachers to stay grounded.

Vice-chairman of the Presbyterian Church (PCTT) local board and former school supervisor Vickram Ramlal said during the past 14 months, and even before the pandemic, the performance of their teachers and principals has been exemplary to ensure their students are taught.

“Unfortunately, there have been instances where some of our officers have not done so,” he said at last Friday’s PCTT Teachers’ Conference, explaining the use of “officers” so as not to differentiate between teacher and principal.

“In the last 18 months we had a young teacher dismissed by the Teaching Service Commission for misconduct.

“Over a period of time we have had two officers (now retired) with criminal charges and are now before the courts

“We have two officers on suspension ­– one for allegations of sexual interference with a student, one for allegations of violent conduct.

“Those are not things that would make the church happy, or the board happy, or even those in society connected to us happy,” Ramlal said at the conference, which was opened by PCTT Moderator the Rev Joy Abdul-Mohan.

He said such behaviour places a burden on the board and officers who have to write these reports to do the right thing.

“At present two officers are being investigated by the Ministry of Education for insubordination. We have teachers claiming victimisation. We have allegations of sexual harassment being made against an officer and that matter is being investigated by both the Ministry of Education and the police.”

He reminded teachers that both the Industrial Relations Act and the Equal Opportunity Act speak to the issue of sexual harassment.

"In today’s society, when we are speaking about gender-based violence, I want to urge officers in our schools and in the workplace to be very wary of their behaviour, so that you would not be accused of anything related to sexual-based violence or sexual harassment.

“It is very disturbing for the board when they have to deal with allegations such as these and speak to officers about allegations of sexual harassment not only against each other, but against OJTs, against business operations assistants and other persons employed in the schools.”

He advised teachers that despite their mental stress and psychological issues they need to stay grounded.

“You need to remember why you became a teacher, so you would not end up in the type of behaviour we are seeing in a few of our persons and which we do not want to spread in our teaching fraternity.”

He said what is becoming endemic is officers posting things online about their schools and colleagues to vent their frustration. He referred to another officer who is the subject of an investigation after he posted a Tik Tok video with obscenities and profanities.

Ramlal warned that social-media laws in TT are developing and could have dire consequences for those found guilty of breaking them.

He referred to West Indian cricketer Lendl Simmons, who had to pay a hefty compensation to an ex-girlfriend for posting private photos of her on social media.