Right is right and wrong is wrong – that’s what the old folks used to say so often when the young and presumptuous tried to wriggle out of accepting responsibility for their actions. It is a saying that is as true as it is obvious.
Last week I had my say on the boiling issues between the Barbados Union of Teachers and the Ministry of Education over dissatisfaction with certain happenings at the Parkinson Memorial and Alma Parris secondary schools. My position has not changed when it comes to the culpability of the ministry in these matters.
But there was a third matter relating to teachers which I deliberately did not touch, relating to the number of unappointed and/or temporary teachers in the service. This is a matter over which many within and outside the Ministry of Education should have pricked consciences.
The ministry has direct responsibility for our education system, and therefore for the welfare of our teachers. The Personnel Administration Division looks after matters relating to the appointment of teachers.
The Ministry of the Civil Service, which falls under the Prime Minister, has overarching responsibility for public servants’ welfare. The Cabinet, as perhaps the primary leader in setting national policy, determines the very tone of how all these “units” of Government will function. And, of course, the all-powerful Ministry of Finance, by virtue of its control of the purse strings, has a major say in what happens – or does not happen – and when.
They all have a major part to play in the clear demoralisation of the teaching service. Yes, the island has been facing economic hard times for a while, but the institutional disregard for our teachers predates this by far. How can you have a country that for decades has been boasting that its only natural resource is its people, and then literally diminish the very ones whose role it is to fashion that raw material into marketable products?
I recognise that I must be careful in using anecdotal “evidence” since it could give the impression that any example cited represents everyone or even a majority, and that may not be accurate, but I will share this one.
Just last week I was told of a teacher with more than a decade of experience who was turned down when she applied for a small loan to purchase a stove and other needed kitchen appliances, purely on the basis that she has no job security. After all, she had no letter confirming that she would be teaching in the new term.
When you put in a decade of service and still can’t enjoy something as basic as security of tenure, what kind of approach should we expect from you as a teacher in the classroom?
I am told that both major teacher unions have scores of similar cases on their files, and I suggest they share them with the public. If nothing else, perhaps parents would have a little more appreciation for the life of the individual to whom they entrust the welfare of their children every day.
There has to be something fundamentally wrong with an arrangement where for 15 years a person works from term to term, or year to year, with no idea of if or when he or she will be appointed.
