ALL TEACHERS WILL be returning to the classroom on Monday.
And having got this assurance from Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler about their job security several weeks ago, temporary teachers were given further reason to breathe easier through a telephone call from Minister of Education Ronald Jones.
General secretary of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT), Herbert Gittens, said Jones, who is currently overseas, spoke to him just after the union meeting with an estimated 300 members concluded at the Barbados Workers’ Union Solidarity House headquarters after midday yesterday.
“He wanted us to emphasize to teachers that they are safe at this point in time, that all of the teachers have been reinstated to their various positions. If there are any teachers who wouldn’t be assigned at this point in time, it might be those who were simply substituting for somebody who is on sick leave . . . . The health and protective services were not interfered with in this round,” Gittens explained.
Jones’ phone call was followed by a statement from the Ministry of Education yesterday evening through the Government Information Service: “The Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation wishes to state that all public nursery, primary and secondary schools will be opened and fully staffed on Monday, January 6, 2014.
“The ministry further wishes to assure parents and guardians that they can be confident that the delivery of education will not be compromised in any way.”
