Farley calls on Charles to address teachers’ issues

Minority Assemblyman Farley Augustine on Tuesday described protest action by some 200 teachers outside the Division of Education on Monday as “heartbreaking” and called on Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles to attend to the pleas for action on some 24 matters.

At a press conference at James Park on Tuesday, Augustine, the THA representative for the L’Anse Fourmi/Speyside/Parlatuvier constituency, said he was standing with the teachers as he slammed what he said was Charles trivialising their concerns.

“We all know Tobagonians are not prone to protest and we would rather bear with the struggles. If so many teachers could leave their classrooms on the eve of SEA examinations, CXC examinations and SBA submissions and go pound the pavement for change, we must stand up and pay attention because they are desperate for their issues to be immediate resolved,” he said.

“He (Charles) attempt to cast aspersions as to why schools are without simple equipment such as photocopying machines and the Chief Secretary should not do that because it is making out it to seem as if the teachers are the ones who are destroying the equipment and this is not the case. For him to attempt to trivialise what the teachers have done and to make it seem as the teachers are the reason for our education system in Tobago being in shambles, this is ingenuous…”

Augustine also disagreed with Charles blaming many of the placement and appointment issues raised by the teachers as a human resources matter, contending that the THA has the responsibility to “force” the hand of the government to help Tobago teachers with this matter.

“What is supposed to happen is the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) is supposed to do a staff audit and use that among things as a justification to request from cabinet an increase in the established positions.

“In order for the Teaching Service and the Cabinet to act the THA must first make a request,” he said.

Augustine, wo is himself a teacher, said he will continue to stand with the teachers on the matters they are protesting - working conditions, security issues, and lack of staffing and contractual agreements, until action is taken to have them resolved.

“All teachers are saying is fix the system and he (Charles) too must recognise that if we have the greatest student/teacher ratio in the region, if we have all those positives and we are still counted as one of the worst performing district, then something must be wrong systemically,” he said.