St George’s teachers Minister’s ‘big stick’ approach upsets TTUTA

Senior Reporter

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Teachers at St George’s College and their representing union, TTUTA, are “incensed” and are accusing Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly of coming after them with a big stick, instead of seeking to address concerns at the school.

“We will not stand for that, we will not have our members being put in the firing line because the Ministry of Education is inept with dealing with the situation,” TTUTA president Martin Lum Kin contended yesterday.

Moments before a planned lunchtime protest at the Barataria school, the Education Ministry issued a strongly worded media statement inferring internal sabotage was preventing the school from its vision of success. It also said an investigation had been launched into the disappearance of 80 fans donated to the school. As such, the ministry said the school will now be more closely monitored by a school supervisor.

The protest had no chanting or marching. Instead, wreathed in red, the teachers quietly vacated the school en masse to have their lunch outside the compound.

Some left by car, others on foot, but Lum Kin, who visited the school moments before the sound of the bell, said the teachers were exercising their rights to eat in peace at a place they felt safe.

This came a day after the recently reopened school experienced what some called unprecedented flooding on Tuesday. That same day (September 17) was the deadline given to the school’s administration by teachers to address the outstanding infrastructural issues they said were still present weeks into the new academic year.

Curious students, delighted by the departure from their routine, sought to get Guardian Media’s attention to convey their frustrations with the sweltering heat in the classrooms.

One parent who came to drop off lunch for her daughter was heard telling her, “Look how sweaty you are!”

Another parent, who requested anonymity, said her child had fallen ill yesterday because of the heat.

TTUTA alleged that a thermometer taken into one of the rooms measured 36 degrees Celsius.

“They (teachers) gave the authorities 14 days in which to respond and until now there has been no response,” Lum Kin said.

Anger and investigations

But the TTUTA president said he was “incensed” and “infuriated” by the Education Ministry’s response to the concerns at the school and the inferred accusation that internal forces were seeking to sabotage progress.

In the media release, the ministry initially reiterated that the flooding issue was an isolated one due to heavy rainfall on Tuesday, rather than the infrastructural work done at the school. The ministry said it noted the curious and baseless attempts to conflate the issue.

However, Lum Kin claimed TTUTA had evidence to the contrary and explained that the guttering system was channelling water into the quadrangle area, where there was poor drainage.

But the Education Ministry said a “deeper issue” was at hand, which pointed to a lack of internal unity and collaboration at the school.

“The MOE has received reports that 80 fans supplied to the school by the Alumni are unaccounted for. This is being investigated. In addition, the ministry has received reports that approaches made by various stakeholder bodies to assist the school with infrastructural improvement have been met with resistance. There have also been several complaints from parents about less than positive interactions of staff with students,” the release alleged.

Lum Kin said they have no records of this and it was a distraction to hide the fact that the Education Ministry “prematurely” brought the students back to the school for the sake of “fanfare and public relations.”

But the ministry is promising to monitor the school.

“The School Supervisor has been assigned to work very closely with the administration and stakeholders to improve this situation. Ministry officials will also directly manage offers of assistance to the school, to ensure that they are accepted and progressed, to the benefit of the students,” the ministry warned.

Lum Kin responded to that warning.

“To say now that you are assigning a school supervisor gives the impression you are going to send somebody with a big stick over the teachers, and I wouldn’t want to use the term but to cut their…”

TTUTA did not want to comment on whether a refusal to work is the next step in this process, but Lum Kin urged Gadsby-Dolly to cease with the “red herrings” and remember that it is the children who are suffering as well.

As the teachers returned to duty almost an hour after leaving the compound, Lum Kin said they would continue to liaise with the ministry to find a solution.

Meanwhile, the ministry, in its statement, gave an update on the work being done.

“Phase 2 works, which do not require relocation, are currently progressing. The scope includes the installation of wall fans and associated electrical works, flooring, windows, PA system, AC servicing, fence repair, and other miscellaneous works, at a cost of $1.6 million,” it stated.