The lunch hour debate

It is about helping children to overcome the violence they see around them in their homes and communities, particularly those in crime hot-spots, Homer Andrews (not his real name), a teacher at a primary school in west Trinidad.

Andrews does not agree with a proposal by the National Primary Schools Principals Association to reduce the lunch hour, mainly to limit fights, which in some cases lead to injuries, among students.

The suggestion is to be discussed with stakeholders Education Minister Anthony Garcia said last week, and, for now, is not a policy.

Andrews also disagrees with the views of TT Unified Teachers Association president Lynsley Doodhai that the lunch break is teachers’ time, that a period for them to recharge.

Lunch time is the children’s time, which Andrews says they need especially at the all boys school where he is one of four men on a teaching staff of 18.

This gender imbalance among teachers adds a special challenge to maintain discipline, said Andrews.

Supervision of the boys, which is required, at lunch time fall on the men, as the women do not go into the school yard and play with them.

Even for physical education, which on the timetable, it is the men who either carry out the exercises or assist the women who find it difficult to get the boys to listen to them.

When he was at the teachers training college, Andrews was one of 10 men from a batch of 60.

Most teachers coming out of the University of Trinidad and Tobago and the University of the West Indies today, he said, are women and many of them cannot discipline children whose role models are gang members and gang leaders.

This is the scenario for Andrews’ school which is in a depressed community where gang wars, even among schools, are common. As a result, the boys do not know how to play and socialise in school because they do not have men they can look up to and learn from where they live.

If there is no police presence in the area, he said, the male teachers have to walk to certain street corners to ensure some children do not get into fights with children from other schools.

“Female and male teachers in schools in communities like mine,” he said, “have to be tough.” Teachers, too, he said, have to be careful because they are unaware of gang affiliations.

Andrews however sees lunch time as an opportunity to help children relate with each other, but schools need either more teachers or volunteers to supervise and play with them on their break.

On the notion that lunch time is teachers’ time Andrew said, “that may apply at some schools but not where I teach because teachers are required to supervise children during the break, and that role tends to fall mainly on the male teachers.” Most times, when there is a problem, the male teachers are called on to talk to or to discipline the student.

Disciplinary measures was a big problem since corporal punishment is banned and suspension is seen as a holiday by the children.

To curb indiscipline, Andrews said, his school instituted measures such as “internal suspension” which makes students do community service in the school.

Like Andrews, some teachers from public and private schools, as well as parents Sunday Newsday interviewed, support leaving the one-hour lunch break because they felt it allowed children to release pent up energy and to socialise. And it was also seen as necessary for teachers to reboot and focus on the afternoon classes.

It had been suggested that 30-minute lunch worked well in some private schools. However, Oneika Bushell, whose two children attend a private school, told Sunday Newsday the proposal “is a retrograde step.” Last year, her sons’ school suggested to parents that the lunch break be reduced to half hour but the parent teachers association opposed it mainly because members felt it will rob children of play time.

Private schools, she said, should ensure supervision of students during their breaks. Parents have a role too, she said, to teach children to respect each other.

Suggesting that retirees and grand-parents could be employed part-time to monitor and supervise children during lunch breaks, Bushell said, “You don’t want strangers around your children.” Marcel De Freitas, whose children go to a public school, took issue with the view the teachers felt the lunch break was “their time” adding he was unaware that they were not required to supervise children at that time.

“TTUTA is on dotishness and that is why there is so much indiscipline in schools,” he said adding that teachers get more holidays than other professionals.

Private school teacher Maria Alexander works with a 30-minute break but is not in favour of it. She said the younger children need their break as they become restless after lunch.

Teachers at her school, she said, are rostered to monitor the children during the breaks as part of their job description. They work from 8 am to 4 pm unlike teachers who work shorter hours in the public system.