By Sue-Ann Wayow
MANY teachers heeded the call of their representative union and did not communicate with their pupils on Thursday.
This was reflected in the teacher daily attendance on Thursday with a 44% turnout, Director of School Supervision at the Ministry of Education Naima Hosein stated on Thursday evening.
TTUTA had announced a “Black Out Day” on Thursday and next week Tuesday citing salary and promotion grievances as well as health and safety of its members.
In a press conference hosted by the ministry on Thursday, Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, the minister said the ministry has had seven stakeholder meetings since July including with the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) and their suggestions were taken into consideration in drafting the policy for the re-opening of physical school scheduled for next Monday.
Dr Gadsby-Dolly described the much anticipated opening for fully vaccinated pupils as a “milestone.”
She also asked that whatever stakeholder action must be taken, that the children’s educational needs should take priority.
Dr Gadsby-Dolly admitted that teachers were working with limited resources and while salaries were not up to date, they were being paid on time.
The minister also thanked the teachers and supporting staff for working under the abnormal circumstances.
Guidelines for the operations of schools have been circulated to principals and all other education stakeholders, and teachers are expected to report to their respective schools on October 4.
When contemplating major policy decisions in education, such as physical school reopening in the time of the pandemic, the views and recommendations of education stakeholders were deemed critical, she stated.
The document – “Guidelines for Physical School Reopening- October 2021”, released on September 23 and its accompanying Circular Memorandum to principals, reflected not only the recommendations proffered by TTUTA, but by all stakeholders, the minister said and the ministry will continue to engage with its stakeholders.
Dr Gadsby- Dolly gave additional updates.
She said, “Term I of Academic Year 2021/22 is 14 weeks long, with a maximum of 70 teaching days.
“With 87 ongoing school infrastructural projects, 812 completed since March 2020, and having provided 7,703 laptops to teachers, with 38,365 devices being provided to students, and the ongoing distribution of MiFi devices and laptops, with over 12,294 of our 13,000 odd teachers being trained in online delivery and other areas since March 2020, and with continuous training ongoing, the Ministry of Education remains focused on facilitating the teaching and learning process for all 70 days of this school term, and beyond.”
She also admitted that transition back to the physical classroom will be challenging as schools will be juggling both physical and virtual students.
But, in order to keep up globally, children in Trinidad and Tobago must join those around the world in getting back to physical school so that they have the best chance of success.
“And we have to do it as safely as possible,” she added.
Dr Gadsby-Dolly reminded the public that already thousands of pupils wrote major primary and secondary school exams in the pandemic and were continuing their educational progress.
Their progress was a result of a combined effort of parents and educators and support staff including janitors and security officers.
“If we did not press forward, in the face of the much advice to the contrary, it would have been to the detriment of our students,” the minister said.
While she said the Ministry of Education has not yet requested an update in terms of teacher vaccination, the fully vaccinated pupils had added protection from the Covid-19 virus.
She said, “The fact is that these students can be exposed by anyone they interact with even in their homes whether vaccinated or unvaccinated. These fully vaccinated students have the best protection against becoming grievously ill if they are exposed to Covid-19 and are therefore best prepared to attend school at this time.”
The guidelines issued to principals are also made available at the ministry’s website.
