Discussions on Term 3 set for Wednesday and Thursday – unions

The two major teachers’ unions are gearing up to host emergency meetings this week on the heels of the Ministry of Education announcing that teachers will receive priority access to COVID-19 vaccines when the next doses become available.

This comes amid reports that Chief Medical Officer Dr Kenneth George has advised that students should return to face-to-face instruction as soon as possible.

The Barbados Teachers Union (BUT) will be meeting with its members on Thursday, while the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) executive has set Wednesday as its meeting date with the general membership, ahead of an invitation to meet with Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson on Friday, March 12.

BUT President Pedro Shepherd told Barbados TODAY that some of his membership was ready to take the vaccine while others are undecided.

“I think there are some who are waiting for more information, more research. There are also some who are waiting to see if there will be any adverse reaction in people who have already taken the vaccine. There are some who have indicated that they are waiting on Johnson and Johnson, there are some who have said they are waiting on Pfizer, so I guess they want options,” Shepherd said.

Shepherd said the union’s Health and Safety Division was currently planning a seminar on vaccinations for next week in an effort to address concerns teachers have about the COVID-19 vaccine. He said the union was searching for resource persons equipped with relevant knowledge on vaccinations to answer the teachers’ questions.

A letter obtained by Barbados TODAY that has the signature of the Chief Education Officer dated Monday, March 8, titled Proposals for Term 3, 2021, advised that Dr George has stressed that students return to the classroom environment as soon as possible and indicated that the Ministry of Health and Wellness was facilitating vaccination of all teachers and ancillary staff in the next phase of vaccinations. He also said that officers have been identified from the COVID-19 Monitoring Team to work specifically with schools and will commence assessments of school plants from Tuesday, March 9.

The correspondence also indicated that the ministry was seeking the unions’ advice on the date of the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination (BSSEE) being moved from June 22 to July 20 as class four teachers request an additional four weeks in a face-to-face teaching environment for students to prepare for the examination.

The Ministry of Education also wants to hear the unions’ views on special needs and CXC students returning to the classroom in Term 3.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Redman said she was concerned with the ministry’s implication that it was safe for teachers to return to the classroom once they receive the vaccine.

Redman said it cannot be ignored that children will not be vaccinated.

“We are holding the meeting to discuss the issues and to be able to properly judge how our members are feeling, what their concerns are, and we will take it back to the Chief Education Officer on Friday,” Redman said.

Speaking to Barbados TODAY on Monday, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw said stakeholders were once again overwhelmingly in favour of a return to face-to-face classes. However, Bradshaw explained that due to community spread and the advent of the related Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) affecting children, discussions regarding the re-opening of school have been more challenging at this time than they were last year during the first phase of the pandemic.
(anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb)