The T&T Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) has warned the Ministry of Education that any attempt to compel teachers to attend a training course during the Christmas vacation will be met with strong resistance.
The union, in a media release on Tuesday, said it was prepared to take legal action to protect the rights of teachers. TTUTA’s second vice president and chairman of the Industrial Relations Committee, Lynsley Doodhai, told teachers that a circular issued by the ministry, telling teachers to attend a training workshop, which it said was mandatory was null and void.
The workshop is called Training for Leadership, Governance and Integrated Management Dimension of the School Based Management System. Calling on the ministry to withdraw the circular immediately and meet with TTUTA to discuss it, Doodhai accused the Chief Education Officer, Harrilal Seecharan, of acting in a reprehensible manner by “engaging in such poor industrial relations practices by unliterally attempting to alter the terms and conditions of teachers.;
TTUTA says the circular was improperly issued and illegally affected the vacation time of teachers, as it was issued without the requisite protocols of a reference number, a circular memorandum number, and the authority of the ministry’s permanent secretary.
Doodhai said this went against the decision of the Special Tribunal of the Industrial Court delivered on July 9, 1986, which says, “The period of school vacation is therefore the period of vacation leave for teachers.” Calls to Seecharan’s cellphone went unanswered and other ministry officials declined to comment.