BUT: Issues unresolved at some schools days before term starts

President of the Barbados Union of Teachers (BUT) Rudy Lovell is calling on the Ministry of Education to meet to discuss outstanding issues affecting teachers before classes resume next Tuesday.

Lovell told Barbados TODAY that the meeting was necessary for the ministry to update the union about several matters, such as the environmental issues at the Lawrence T Gay Memorial School which resulted in the relocation of classes last term.

The BUT also wants to know whether St Boniface Nursery School, which was closed due to mould infestation last term, will be reopened next week.

“We want to have a discussion regarding Lawrence T Gay because we don’t believe that there has been a resolution to the environmental issue and this is the start of a new school term. We don’t want our members to return to the environment given that no conclusive decision was made regarding the pollutant in the environment” Lovell said.

“The union is also concerned about the slow pace of work at St Boniface. We know that the school term is fast approaching and we were told that the work was supposed to conclude for the students and teachers to return to school at the start of the new school term. We are not sure if that is going to happen but we are still hopeful that work can be concluded in time for both teachers and students to occupy the compound.”

Lovell added that the BUT needed issues dealt with at two secondary schools, which he declined to identify.

“I don’t want to give the names of those schools, but one of those secondary schools was supposed to have some remedial work done over the Christmas vacation period and we are not satisfied that that work was done to the extent that they had said it was going to be done,” the union official said.

Lovell added that the BUT was still uneasy about violence in schools and was eager to find out what plans the Education Ministry has to combat the worrisome situation.

He said the lack of security guards at some schools was among other outstanding issues to be discussed with authorities.

“We have not had a meeting with the ministry last term. The only meeting we had with the ministry was to discuss the IDB [Inter-American Development Bank] survey. But apart from that, we did not have a meeting to discuss the usual issues that we would discuss related to education and the schools.

“Added to that, we were accustomed to having a quarterly meeting with the permanent secretary, but I think we only had two quarterly meetings last school year. So, we also want to have those quarterly meetings recommenced.

“We want to have meetings at the level of the permanent secretary and the level of the Chief Education Officer. So we are hoping that we can have a discussion on some of these issues affecting our members, if not all,” Lovell said.

On the issue of the end of the mask mandate in schools – which was lifted on December 21, 2022, during the Christmas holiday – the BUT president said teachers and students who wanted to continue wearing masks could do so and the union also supported those who chose to go maskless.

“But we also want to remind people that they should still continue to follow the protocols regardless of if they wear the mask or not,” he said.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb