Ministry: Arrears for teachers by September

ALL TEACHERS who are owed increments of arrears have been assured by the Ministry of Education that payments will be made by September 30. The commitment was given yesterday after a meeting with the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Angella Jack and representatives of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), at the ministry’s Alexandra Street offices. The union had called on all teachers who were owed the monies for the period 1987 to 1995 to convene at the ministry to “enquire about the status of payments.”

About 40 teachers complied and quietly stood outside the ministry’s main entrance from 10 am, while police officers stood outside the ministry to ensure there was no chaos. The teachers were later greeted by the ministry’s employee relations adviser, John Edwards, who requested that the teachers provide their names, schools and telephone numbers on a list to enable the ministry to contact them on the status of the processing of their arrears. However, the teachers voiced their objections, saying they were tired of filling out forms and getting the run-around from the ministry. They accused Edwards of employing a “delaying tactic.” In response to Edwards’ statement that of the 10,000 teachers owed, 9,000 were paid, one teacher said, “I happy for them, but I want to be happy too!”

Kishore Lal, a lecturer at the Corinth Teachers College, was one of the more vocal teachers who refused to provide the requested information unless a deadline was given as to when the ministry would contact him. After being told “within the next two weeks,” he signed the form. TTUTA’s representatives, led by second vice president Orville Carrington, reminded teachers that they were engaged in a struggle, and he expected them to be patient. After a 90 minute meeting between Jack and the TTUTA representatives, as well as a sampling of the teachers with various problems, Carrington told the teachers of the ministry’s commitment to pay the monies by September 30. Carrington said the ministry had assured that 365 teachers are to receive their monies by the end of August, while advertisements would be placed in the newspapers informing other affected teachers to collect liability statements and make applications for their monies. In addition, Carrington said the ministry would put in place a dedicated telephone number and “help desk” to provide information to teachers and to deal with problems encountered, and additional staff would be deployed to speed up the process.

Carrington said it was underscored to PS Jack that teachers were “fed up” with the numerous broken promises by the ministry, and urged her to set a deadline for the payments of all owed monies. He said it was in that regard that the ministry committed to paying all monies by September 30 this year. Edwards also reiterated the ministry’s commitment to pay, but warned that even after the September deadline, there may be one or two teachers who would still be owed, because information was continually being given to the ministry on the number of teachers owed. He asked teachers for their cooperation and thanked them for their patience, saying in all fairness to the ministry “we have tried and met it partially.”