School supervisors engaged in a mass sick out throughout eight educational districts across the country yesterday in protest over higher wages. Each school is part of an educational district and falls under the direct control of the School Supervisor III of the district. The supervisors, who are in charge of monitoring school operations, management and security, embarked on the mass sickout after the Ministry of Education failed to provide salary increases.
A source, who requested anonymity, said since teachers and principals received an upgrade in salaries, the supervisors have been working for less than their subordinates. “We have cases where principals were promoted to being school supervisors but had to accept a lower salary. “When the matter was raised with the last administration, supervisors were given an interim allowance. However, there have been delays in paying travelling allowances to the supervisors,” the source added.
Checks by the T&T Guardian revealed that at the South Eastern, Sangre Grande and St Patrick educational districts, no supervisors reported for duty yesterday. Officials at each district said the supervisors did not turn up for work because they were carded to attend a seminar at the Rudranath Capildeo Learning Resource Centre, Couva. In the Caroni educational district, only one out of six supervisors reported for duty, while at the Port-of-Spain Educational District, one out of seven school supervisors reported for duty. Officials at Victoria and St Patrick also confirmed that most of the supervisors were away from work.
A source said although school supervisors received an interim allowance, principals worked for $1,000 more than their supervisors. “We have brought this matter to the attention of the ministry of education but nothing has been done,” the source said. Efforts to contact Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh for comment proved futile as calls to his cellphone went unanswered. He did not respond to text messages.