Shas­tri Boodan

The T&T Uni­fied Teach­ers As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) wants the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion to con­sult with them be­fore the Min­istry em­barks on any ex­e­cu­tion of a planned pro­gramme of on­line class­es com­menc­ing in Sep­tem­ber.

Kady Beck­les, TTUTA’s Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary, said it may not be pos­si­ble for some teach­ers to con­duct class­es from home be­cause of their liv­ing con­di­tions, per­son­al space, lack of de­vices and con­nec­tiv­i­ty.

She said if teach­ers are to en­ter schools and con­duct class­es on­line the prop­er con­nec­tiv­i­ty and equip­ment must be made avail­able and all arrange­ments for sani­ti­sa­tion are in place and all safe­ty pro­to­cols as out­lined by the Min­istry of Health, ad­hered to at all times.

Teach­ers op­er­at­ing from a sec­ondary school in cen­tral Trinidad have in­di­cat­ed that a prin­ci­pal had al­ready be­gun mak­ing de­mands with­out any of­fi­cial Cir­cu­lar Mem­o­ran­dum be­ing is­sued by the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion. The teacher said, “We are be­ing di­rect­ed by the Prin­ci­pal to teach from home start­ing Sep­tem­ber 1. Teach­ers are ex­pect­ed to:

(1) de­liv­er the cur­ricu­lum via Google Meet in a timetabled day of 50 minute blocks

(2) take roll

(3) sign for a gov­ern­ment lap­top to use at home

(4) come in­to the fa­cil­i­ties to teach from class­rooms

(5) teach­ers are to pro­vide links to the school ad­min so their ses­sions can be mon­i­tored.

None of this has been sanc­tioned by the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion yet teach­ers are be­ing told by the Prin­ci­pal via their Head of De­part­ment that the new Min­is­ter is big on ac­count­abil­i­ty and this time teach­ers have to prove they are teach­ing”.

Since March 13, teach­ers at the school have been told that they must send work to stu­dents be­cause the school PTA would be up­set if they did not as they work was to keep chil­dren oc­cu­pied at home.