PNM Tobago calls for dialogue on education

The Tobago Council of the People’s National Movement (PNM) is calling for more dialogue and discussion with regards on the education system on the island.

On Monday, teachers gathered outside the offices of the Division of Education, Innovation and Energy at Dutch Fort in Scarborough to protest 24 unresolved matters including unfair treatment for promotion and placement, poor working conditions in terms of resources and physical conditions, understaffing at primary schools, lack of security, schools in need of repairs and the relocation of the Scarborough Secondary school.

However, speaking on Wednesday at a media conference hosted at the PNM Tobago Council’s Scarborough office, the party’s Vice Chairman, Wendell Berkeley, said that dialogue and the discussions must continue on education.

“After listening to the offerings of the Chief Secretary and Secretary of Education, Innovation and Energy (Kelvin Charles), we recognise that there are differences of expressions in what is been said by one party as against the other. When we listened to his explanations, we recognise that there is continued discussions and dialogue. We want to ask that the dialogue and the discussions continue. It is only through dialogue and good conversation that we could all, both parties could really get what they really want,” Berkley said.

This position was endorsed by the party’s Public Relations Officer Kwesi Des Vignes, who said that as former teachers themselves, he and the Chief Secretary were fully aware of the challenges faced by teachers.

“We always have to keep our students at the forefront of whatever actions or decisions that we take. There are fundamental challenges that we need to address, and the Chief Secretary as the Secretary for Education would have set about doing just that.

“Yes, there are things, day to day, that schools face challenges with and I don’t want us to let it descend into a photocopier and fax debate, that is what I call trivialising our education and the education of our young people, let us address head on the fundamental challenges. Let us become innovation in the way we deal with our challenges because it is about the children,” he said.