As tensions between teachers and government officials worsened over a new industrial contract, Ministry of Education officials asked that parents collect their children by 1 p.m. The move came just one day after more than 300 educators abandoned their classrooms showing up instead at the Michael H. Eldon Complex, where executives of the Bahamas Union of Teachers and government officials were continuing talks on their first collective bargaining agreement.
It is understood that the industrial action caught government officials by surprise as teachers had already been warned on Thursday that they stood the chance of having their pay cheque docked.
“They were shocked,” the Guardian was told by an inside source. “They did not expect that to happen.” Only a 1/3 of the staff at R M Bailey High School showed up for work. But despite that, officials reported that the scheduled Home Economics examination went off without a hitch. “The examination started on time and it went off well. Now it is over,” said principal Dreschler Sherman.
Even before the official 1 p.m. deadline, students of C. R. Walker Senior were seen leaving the school campus and walking the streets. Others gathered on a Blue Hill Road bus stop.
At this C H Reeves Junior High School, students were sitting under trees and milling around, as there was no teaching taking place.
One school official reported that the school is simply in the trenches, but she refused to comment further.
The Guardian spoke with a student who was in fear of having her exam schedule affected by the teachers’ actions. “I mean I understand what the teachers are fighting for, and I understand about the violence on school campuses, but why would they take action during exam time?” questioned the 16-year-old A F Adderley student.
Surrounded by her friends, the prefect said she did not want anything to get in the way of her education, and her obtaining high scores on her examinations.
Director of Education Iris Pinder said the Ministry has a plan in place to ensure that
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there is minimal interruption or none at all to the examination schedule.
But already, BGCSE examinations in Auto Mechanics at R M Bailey Senior have been postponed. This also affected 14 students of Aquinas College who were scheduled to sit the exam at R.M. Bailey.
While teachers were receiving support from some parents, others were upset that the negotiations have spiraled out of control.
One parent, who spoke to the Guardian on the condition of anonymity, expressed “total disgust” over the situation.
“I feel as if the teachers are taking this too far,” she said. “I am usually sympathetic in certain instances, but to place important examinations at risk is something totally different, and I agree with the Minister of Education that some action should be taken against them.”
She indicated that the teachers’ “no show” at exams have not affected her children as yet.
Echoing similar sentiments, a father of a C R Walker student said the leadership team of the Bahamas Union of Teachers should resign.
“They should all feel ashamed of themselves.”
But a Government High School parent said she understood the plight teachers have to face every day with regard to working conditions and school violence.
“The government needs to be mindful of this,” she said. “I think it is only fair that government support them wholeheartedly.”
It is unclear whether this latest wave of industrial action would carry into next week as teachers continue to press the Government for a speedy resolution to their negotiations.
In the meantime, BUT president Ida Poitier-Turnquest denied that there was a skeleton teaching staff in the schools.
She said: “All teachers were at their duties today.”
She insisted it “was the Ministry of Education’s decision to close the schools early.”
By: KEVA LIGHTBOURNE, The Nassau Guardian
