Touch one teacher, you touch all!

Garcia on Tuesday disclosed that recommendations for disciplinary action against teachers of the school have been forwarded by the Ministry to the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) which is the body charged with hiring, firing and discipling the nation’s teachers. Doodhai in a press release said, “TTUTA is pained over the statements made by the Minister of Education.” He said the association is deeply disappointed in the manner by which Garcia and the Ministry is treating with the issue. “It seems the minister is engaging in a public relations exercise to cover up the refusal of the Ministry to deal with serious concerns relating to that school that have been placed before it for over four years.

He said disciplinary action is nothing more than a “smoke screen” to make the minister and the ministry look good while using teachers as sacrificial lambs.

TTUTA asserts, Doodhai said, that teachers of the school, as TTUTA members, participated in a picket demonstration on March 6, led by the Association’s General Council, committed no act of misconduct.

“Every citizen has a constitutional right to freedom of expression and lawful protest, the right to picket is enshrined in the Industrial Relations Act and the picket took place during the lunch period of SMSS,” Doodhai said. He added that teachers conducted themselves in a dignified, orderly and peaceful manner even when confronted by chanting students who themselves bore placards and hurled missiles.

“The Minister of Education, being a former TTUTA President led many picket demonstrations and protests against the employer.

He is being nothing more than downright hypocritical when he says these teachers are setting a bad example. The question must be asked, was the Minister of Education setting a bad example when as TTUTA President, he led numerous pickets?”