It appears that teachers have ignored Education Minister Tim Gopeesingh's appeal not to stay away from classes yesterday. Vice-president of the T&T Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Davanand Sinanan said yesterday the majority of teachers heeded the union's call to rest and reflect, which resulted in some schools shutting down.
Figures disclosed by the Education Ministry also support Sinanan's view that there was a high level of teacher absenteeism at both primary and secondary schools. "We have about overall 30 per cent of our teachers in primary schools present and about 41 per cent in the secondary schools," confirmed Education Ministry CEO Harrilal Seecharan.
TUTTA called on teachers to rest and reflect for two days after the union's general council rejected Chief Personnel Officer Stephanie Lewis' latest offer of an overall increase of eight per cent. The union is asking for approximately 13 per cent.
Saying the union's figures were based on information gathered from more than 100 schools, Sinanan said the union was hoping the teachers heed the union's call to also stay away from work today. "In many instances schools had to be completely shut,"?he said.
Sinanan said some of the schools where all teachers failed to report for duty included Guapo Government, Bonne Aventure Primary and Newtown Girls' RC. He said at San Fernando West Secondary, 50 out of 54 teachers stayed home, at St Gabriels, 36 out of 38 stayed away, at Belmont Secondary, 43 out of 48 were absent, at Trinity College, 36 out of 42 stayed away and at Newtown Boys' RC, 26 out of 27.
"We hope the action continues tomorrow (today). It's a call for two days of rest and reflection," he said. "If we are not satisfied with the response after this, we will proceed to the next level, which is a march through the streets of Port-of-Spain on Thursday, November 29, and we will be calling on all teachers to attend."
Sinanan said the union had to send a very powerful message to the national community and the employer to treat teachers with a greater level of respect. "We perform a vital function and when teachers decided to become teachers they did not take a vow of poverty as some people want to insinuate."
Gopeesingh, who could not be reached for a comment on the teachers' absence, appealed to them on Wednesday not to heed the union's call.