TTUTA: Teachers will comply with new ministry mandate on physical classes

President of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) Antonia De Freitas has said TTUTA members will comply with the Ministry of Education’s recent mandate and teach all forms four-six students, whether vaccinated or not, in a physical classroom from Monday.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said teachers will no longer be required to teach online classes. as all forms four-six students must return to school physically.

In an interview on Friday, De Freitas told Newsday, “The ministry has given an instruction, and our educational professionals will be complying and doing what they have to do.”

Since October 4, a parallel schooling system has required vaccinated students to be taught physically and unvaccinated students to be taught online.

But the system drew criticism from education stakeholders such as TTUTA.

In an interview with Newsday on October 15, De Freitas said if the ministry insists on bringing students back out to physical schools, it must do away with online learning.

During Friday’s interview, De Freitas did not say if TTUTA was pleased with the ministry’s latest mandate, but she did point out that one of the association's demands was for the ministry to have one mode of learning for all students.

She added, “We had called for teachers to not have to engage in both modalities for forms four, five and six.

“I will simply say that TTUTA had called for one modality to be used and the ministry has chosen one method for curriculum delivery, so our members will have to work with what the ministry has prescribed.”