ON World Teachers' Day, an Opposition MP is advising teachers who are calling for better terms and conditions to “teach the People’s National Movement (PNM) Government a lesson it will never forget.”
Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh declared, “We celebrate the teachers of our nation, but we condemn the unrepentantly dismissive and oppressive manner in which teachers are being treated by this PNM Government of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.”
In a statement to commemorate the day, first observed by UNESCO in 1994, Indarsingh said while teachers are being celebrated around the world, “Just days ago they were threatened with dismissal by the Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, and the Government of this country over their right to peaceful protest against the Government's offer of a meagre four per cent wage increase."
The Government sought and obtained an injunction on the afternoon of September 25, a Sunday, to stop teachers staying away from work the following day once again to "rest and reflect."
Added to this, he said, the AG launched an unprecedented attack against the recognised majority union representing teachers, TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA), threatening it with decertification.
“Never before has there been such an attack on teachers by an ungrateful, selfish, disdainful, arrogant and treacherous Cabinet.
“It was only last year that our teachers stood strongly and compassionately in the gap for our nation's children, ensuring that during the covid19 pandemic, students were attended to as best as possible, given the cluelessness and carelessness of this Government.
“Teachers had to balance the novelty of online classes with the lack of resources and support from the PNM, and the burdening responsibility of dealing with decreased income, sick family members and the deaths of loved ones in their own households.”
Indarsingh said instead of appreciating teachers for their diligence, focus and sacrifice, the Government stabbed teachers in the back although they were merely trying to ensure they got their just due.
Zeroing in on the theme, "The transformation of education begins with teachers,” Indarsingh noted, “It is today clear that the transformation of our nation must continue with teachers continuing to stand up for themselves in the face of flagrant industrial abusiveness and ingratitude by this Government.
“It is not just that the transformation of education begins with teachers, but the transformation of our country must begin with teachers themselves.
He said that the government went "into the dead of the night" to seek an ex-parte injunction from the Industrial Court was a clear indication of "how devious and draconian" it was towards teachers and the rest of the working class.
“Today, on World Teachers Day, I call on the teachers of this nation to take a stand against this unprecedentedly anti-teacher Government, and to once and for all, teach the PNM a lesson it will never forget.”