Shortage of cleaning staff still a concern for schools

When the new term commences in the coming days, some primary schools will have to rely on teachers carrying out the additional role of general worker to ensure that the school plant remains fit for use.

This, president of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Pedro Shepherd said, was because more than 70 per cent of the island’s 80 primary schools are without general workers and some are in need, especially in the existing COVID-19 environment, of additional janitorial staff.

Shepherd’s comments were made after the union unveiled plans for 13^th Biennial Delegates’ Conference which comes off September 24^th at the BUT’s headquarters, Welches, St Michael today.

“… Most of the primary schools have to rely on their teaching staff, there are no general workers at primary schools for example. So a lot of the shifting of furniture, painting of rooms and cleaning generally have been left up to most of the teachers,” he said.

In an interview with Barbados TODAY following the press conference, Shepherd said that due to complaints from some teachers, the issue of extra janitors was raised during previous consultation meetings with the Ministry of Education but it has not been resolved as yet.

“The janitors are still cleaning but because … [of safety protocols] they are not allowed to clean anything above their reach. So during vacations the ministry would hire cleaning companies to come in and clean above reach, the windows, etc. However, in terms of the cleaning of the compound, when the grass reaches 12 inches high the schools make a report with the ministry and someone is sent to cut it.

“In this environment I suspect the teachers will have to assist. Some schools have 500 plus children, 28 classrooms, there is no way that two janitors can do all the necessary cleaning in the timeframe. We are requesting additional janitors in this period but that has not materialized up to this point. During our consultation meeting with the ministry we would have raised that as an issue and we were told they would be provided, then we were told they would have to come from the Ministry of Civil Service and up to now we have not gotten the extra,” Shepherd said.

Addressing the readiness of schools for the September 21 start of the new school year, the union boss again questioned the rationale behind the pending transfer of a number of principals and deputies at this point stating that it has caused some uncertainty at the secondary level in terms of leadership.

Shepherd said that he was still unsure what was really happening because some people who were offered transfer letters had them rescinded.

“I am told that there were some people who were transferred from their schools effective the 21st. What concerns me as a union leader in the education fraternity is that while you have the power to transfer, I think the timing of the transfers really is the concern. All during the summer break, we would have been asking our principals and management teams at schools to have schools ready for the reopening and persons would have been working towards the reopening of their schools.

“Putting the plans in place and at the last minute you are issuing transfer letters to those same persons who would have been preparing for their substantive schools. So now you are putting persons, in my view, on the battlefield without any armour. Because they are going into an environment on Monday morning for the first time, in a COVID environment, which is a new phenomenon. If it is a challenge at your own school, I can understand what it will be to see new teachers, new students, new parents amidst the confusion that I suspect we will have at some of these schools,” he added.

As it relates to personal protective equipment (PPE) including sanitizers, gloves and face masks, Shepherd indicated that there were some schools that have not yet received the items from the Ministry of Education.

” … But we have 72 hours and  I believe that within the 72 hours much can be done,” Shepherd added. (KC)