Thousands affected as ‘Sir,’ ‘Miss’ absent from classes

Thousands of students were abandoned by teachers in virtual classrooms on Thursday as they responded to a call, apparently by the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), to engage in a “blackout” of virtual classes.

Some parents, speaking anonymously with Newsday, said their children’s teachers did not even give notice that they would not be teaching, until Thursday morning.

One parent said the teacher did not address all the parents directly, choosing instead to speak through one parent in a message that simply read, “Good morning, I will not be in class today. They can work on incomplete assignments.”

Another disgruntled mother said only one of her two daughters’ teachers chose to participate in the blackout, and her nephew’s teacher also did not show up for class.

“A lot of (the parents) in his class group chat are pissed,” she said.

“Most of them said the teacher should have at least let us know. Kids are logging in and waiting in the virtual waiting room with no information. Not even a post on Edmodo – a virtual teaching platform – saying there would be no class.”

She said her niece’s teacher sent the “blackout” flyer in the parent group chat and questions by parents went unanswered.

“I just saw one child asking to be let in a class because she obviously didn’t know teachers were striking.”

A father in south Trinidad said his three sons were also left hanging. He said his eldest son’s teacher told parents on Thursday that she would not be attending class. His other two sons’ teachers messaged parents at 7.30 am.

“One teacher said they had an emergency and the other teacher said they were not having Zoom classes, but still sent the children some work. The one who had the emergency, she didn’t send anything.

“None of the teachers have said the word 'strike' or 'action' or anything.”

He said his sons did some revision for the rest of the day. He also said he noticed, after posting on social media, that the responses from parents seemed to suggest denominational schools were not participating as much as government schools.

“That’s just an observation,” he said.

Chairman of the Association of Denominational Boards of Education Sharon Mangroo told Newsday in a brief phone interview, although she hadn’t checked to see what was happening at all its schools, the few which were checked had teachers present.

“We don’t need to do that,” Mangroo said. “Teaching is a vocation. Not for every teacher, but many teachers recognise this.”

She said teachers’ concern for their students would prevent them from closing up shop without notice, especially with World Teachers’ Day on the horizon on Tuesday – the next scheduled day of the blackout.

Mangroo said the denominational boards met with TTUTA and explained that while they share TTUTA's views on the desired outcomes for teachers, they do not agree with all the strategies used by TTUTA.

At a news conference hosted by the Ministry of Education on Thursday, Director of School Supervision Naima Hosein said only 44 per cent of teachers had attended virtual classes.

Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said she had not heard anything official about teachers on strike.

“As (Hosein) indicated, we do have a lower teacher turnout generally than our average days, so there seems to be something going on.”

Gadsby-Dolly said when action is taken by the ministry or by teachers it affects many people, but it takes its toll primarily on students.

“Education has always been a priority in this country and, in difficult times, we have ensured that teachers have retained their salaries on time.

“We are accustomed doing the best we can with what is available to us. The ministry and this country have done everything to make things a little easier on our teachers…and we expect our teachers to continue doing their best for the students.”

Gadsby-Dolly said all stakeholders were engaged in a total of seven meetings – of which TTUTA had been a part of three – from July-September.

She said the guidelines, and the accompanying circular memorandum to principals, reflect the recommendations of all stakeholders, including TTUTA.

“The ministry continues to meet with all our valued stakeholders, including TTUTA, on upcoming projects.”

She said there are 87 ongoing school infrastructural projects, and 812 had been completed since March 2020.

Gadsby-Dolly also said the ministry has provided 7,703 laptops to teachers, and 12,294 teachers have been trained in online delivery and other areas of virtual education.

She said juggling the virtual and physical school environment may not be possible for all schools, even if they are fully outfitted with equipment and WiFi.

“It comes down to a teacher and their capabilities. This is why stakeholders were very firm on their having the flexibility to determine what was best for them on an individual school level and the guidelines reflect this.”