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Change takes teachers off guard

by Randy Bennett
3 min read
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Teachers are not in agreement with being in classrooms with students without masks.

Less than a week after the Ministry of Education announced that students would be allowed to remove their masks in classrooms once they remained six feet apart, the decision has drawn the ire of at least one teachers’ union.

At the time acting Chief Education Officer Joy Adamson said they were concerns about the length of time students would have to keep on the masks.

But president of the Barbados Secondary Teachers’ Union (BSTU) Mary Redman said that condition was not agreed to by any of the four teachers’ unions and as a result she had sent a letter to the ministry informing them of teachers’ disagreement with the new protocol.

Speaking on the radio programme Down to Brass Tacks today, Redman said none of the unions had been consulted prior to the change being made.

“We just yesterday sent off a letter to the Chief [Education Officer], copied to the permanent secretary and asking it to be drawn to the attention of the minister.

“The teachers have concerns about this change in the protocol that we had agreed to. Our agreement was that children and teachers, in fact all persons on the school premises, would be wearing masks during the time that school was actually in session. That was what was agreed to by all four teachers’ unions and the ministry,” Redman pointed out.

“Subsequent to that, we heard, without any prior dialogue or consultation, that this had changed to allow for children once they were seated at the desk not to wear their masks. Now persons would understand that a school environment, a classroom situation, is not the same as an office and teachers will not stand in one spot and teach. If you are in an office and maintaining your six-foot physical distancing perhaps yes you can take off your mask. In a situation where a teacher is moving between pupils, checking on work, correcting work, attempting to deal with challenges that a child may have in any particular subject matter, it involves the need to have contact that is much less than that six-foot distance and so we are very concerned about this unilateral change to protocols that we agreed upon.”

Redman said what was especially concerning was the fact that the protocol would obtain for next month’s Common Entrance Examination.

She pointed out that a large number of teachers were hypertensive, asthmatic and diabetic and therefore needed to be extremely careful not to contract COVID-19.

Furthermore, she said children especially could be asymptomatic and spread the virus unknowingly.

Redman contended that teachers needed to work in a safe and comfortable environment.

“We understand too that this same change of protocol is to be applied with the conduct of the 11-Plus examination which is a grave concern because teachers have to actively go next to a student to distribute exam papers and to check papers. The teacher at the end of the exam has to collect and handle those papers,” she said.

“Therefore we have concerns that are grounded in the best interest of our health and well-being when we express discomfort with that unilateral change by the ministry to what was previously agreed upon.”

Redman said if children were uncomfortable wearing cloth masks for an extended period, the wearing of face shields could be allowed.

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