PRESIDENT of the TT Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) Antonia De Freitas is denying any collusion with a community activist group to shut down schools, as suggested on a Facebook post.
The denial followed a Facebook post by a relative of the principal of the Barrackpore West Secondary School (BWSS) where members of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) staged a small, peaceful protest on Tuesday morning.
One member of the PTA, Edward Moodie also denied any conspiracy with De Freitas to shut down any schools.
The protest was called to highlight the disadvantage unvaccinated students, who are not allowed to return to schools, will face with the resumption of physical classes for Forms Four to Six students.
[caption id="attachment_919891" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Edward Moodie -[/caption]
Local police and Special Branch officers monitored the protest and took notes as the organisers gave details to the media.
TTUTA has publicly opposed the Ministry of Education’s (MoE) decision for teachers to simultaneously teach online and face-to-face classes, saying this is an impossible task.
Tuesday’s protest was triggered by an October 12 memo BWSS acting principal Edward Beharry sent to parents and guardians informing them that all classes from forms four to six will be taught face-to-face effective October 18.
It also caused a relative of the principal to post a question picked up by A Teachers Voice group on Facebook, “Is it true that TTUTA is encouraging protests to shut down schools?”
The relative's comment claimed they had heard that a union official had been encouraging protests with social action groups with the objective of shutting down schools.
De Freitas distanced herself from any such action and appealed to the principal's relative to remove the post which had generated a lot of negative feedback against the TTUTA president.
Moodie’s daughter, a form five science student, attends the school where he once taught. She is unvaccinated. Moodie said it was pure manipulation on the part of the MoE to coerce parents to have their children vaccinated.
“My child is not taking any vaccine and if you oppress my child, I am not going to sit idly by and take that. The MoE has breached the constitutional rights of our children and you all have breached the UN charter on education. Let us look at a solution."
[caption id="attachment_919892" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Missy Arneaud -[/caption]
As a former teacher, he said he has had interactions with TTUTA and its president who empathised with their desire to stand in defence of a proper education for their children with the resumption of physical class and TTUTA's resistance to simultaneous online classes.
"The PTA has been liaising with the principal to arrive at a workable solution for both students and teachers – vaccinated and unvaccinated."
He said streaming of classes was suggested and individual parents agreed to purchase routers to have this system effected. He said he also brought in an IT specialist who explained because
