TEACHERS will no longer mark the School Based Assessment (SBA) from September unless compensated, says President of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Lynsley Doodhai.
Doodhai was speaking at the 39th Anniversary and Retirees Function held Saturday at the Couva/Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce, an event attended by Education Minister Anthony Garcia.
Doodhai said teachers were under no obligation to mark the SBAs of pupils as this is a responsibility for the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), an external agency.
He said CXC is not the employer of teachers and cannot demand they work for free to grade the papers.
Doodhai said that last year, two union resolutions were passed dealing with SBA’s and a decision was made for teachers to no longer mark SBAs from September.
“One resolution mandated that legal recourse be taken to obtain a final interpretation on the marking of SBAs, given the consistent refusal of the CXC to entertain the payment of teachers, whilst the second resolution called on teachers to not mark any newly introduced SBA’s, including Mathematics and English A with immediate effect.
Colleagues I want to divulge to you today that the Association has had in-depth consultation with our attorneys, who have advised that our members are under no obligation to mark SBAs if they are not remunerated for doing so. I therefore want to give the Ministry of education and CXC ample notice that from September 2018 when the new academic year begins, teachers will not be marking SBAs unless they are compensated. Let me repeat teachers will not be marking SBAs from September 2018 unless they are paid to do so,” he said.
Doodhai also raised the issue of some teachers working in deplorable working conditions, the filling vacant positions and salary negotiations.
Doodhai denied that teachers are involved in sabotaging the sewer systems at school.
He said the Education Minister recently made statements of sabotage of sewer systems in schools and threw blame of the Ministry for compromising the health and safety of the teachers.
He said the Union was concerned with the filling of vacancies for Heads of Departments at secondary schools.
He said it was unacceptable for such positions not to have been advertised for six years.
Doodhai called for the Government to issue instructions to the Chief Personnel Officer to begin negotiations.
He said since November 2015, the Association has attempted to kick start negotiations for a new Collective Agreement for the 2014-2017 to no avail. He said if nothing happened soon, TTUTA will consider “possibly give teachers an opportunity to rest and reflect.”
In a message to the retirees, Doodhai thanked the members for their service and having endured “substandard” conditions. He also mentioned the construction of a Teachers Centre at Carlsen field, which will eventually become the headquarters of the Association, is expected by January 2019.
Education Minister Anthony Garcia in his address said he is always happy to participate in TTUTA events as he always considers himself a teacher.
He said that though he holds a different work title now, there are different perspectives he has to take.
Garcia said the aim of the Ministry is the to ensure that quality education is made available to the children and there is a need for active support from all stakeholders.
He said the Ministry wanted to give the commitment that the Ministry will work with teachers and provide the appropriate environment for education.
He said: “if we are to achieve our aim of delivering quality education there must be certain things that we must put together. There must be easy access so our children would be able to achieve and benefit from what we have to offer. It means then that the conditions under which the teachers work must be conducive to a quality education. I want to give the commitment that we will do everything to ensure that the conditions our teachers work and operate will always be enhanced.”
Garcia said due to the economic conditions facing the country, teachers needed to work with the Ministry to achieved its objectives of ensuring a quality education for children.
The Minister also called for more male teachers in schools saying that they can provide a vital role in motivating children, especially young men who do not have a father-figure at home.
