UNC MP concerned for safety of SEA students, supervisors

WITH the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) exams a few days away, Tabaquite MP Anita Haynes is accusing Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly of not doing all in her power to ensure the safety of students.

In a question posed during Wednesday’s Parliament session, Haynes sought to find out from Gadsby-Dolly how many SEA supervisors had been vaccinated ahead of the exam on July 1.

Similar safety concerns have been expressed by Antonia Tekah-De Freitas, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), about her members.

Tekah-De Freitas said volunteers for SEA supervision have only received the first dose of the covid19 vaccination, putting them at risk.

Haynes said Gadsby-Dolly’s flippant response was that “vaccination was not a condition of supervising the SEA.”

Asked whether this position deviated from Government’s "vaccinate and operate" policy, Gadsby-Dolly claimed the policy merely seeks to encourage those willing to be vaccinated and that vaccination was not mandatory in Trinidad and Tobago.

“It was only two weeks ago that the Prime Minister informed the nation of its 'operate and vaccinate policy.' For the Ministry of Education to suggest otherwise is beyond negligence.

“This perhaps explains how thousands of students have been allowed to fall out of the school system with no action from this minister,” Haynes said in a statement.

She condemned Gadsby-Dolly for trying to muddy the issue by saying there is no policy mandating people to be vaccinated.

“The nation is well aware that vaccine inoculations are not mandatory; however, the minister appears to be flip-flopping on the rules or at least conveniently distancing the education sector from overall government policy.

“On one hand the Government has been clear that a national vaccination drive is a major condition for the reopening of our country as well as our schools.

“On the other hand, SEA supervisors and other officials coming into contact with primary school children need not be vaccinated.

“This is not following the science or the Government’s policy that all other sectors are expected to uphold, this is a matter of the minister fudging the facts to excuse her failure to do her job.”

She said the ministry had ample time during the postponement of the SEA to arrange volunteers who are fully vaccinated in order to minimise potential risks.

“Now it appears that the ministry wants to rush the vaccinations of 500 volunteers on June 26 with the exam taking place mere days after on July 1. The minister also only gave figures for persons who have received the first dose of the vaccine, so there is still a question of how many supervisors are fully vaccinated.”

She argued this was "nothing short of reckless mismanagement and irresponsibility by a minister who is supposed to look after the safe education of our children. This is not nearly good enough.”