FRIDAY, MARCH
19, 2021
VOLUME 115, No.11 www.thevincentian.com
Gov’t extends unemployment benefit Page 2
Gov’t not obligated to LIAT workers Page 3
Do not take Soufrière for granted Page 13
EC$1.50
Nina Maloney remembered Page 11
Coastal Defense projects ongoing Page 14
TEACHERS WILL NOT BE BULLIED Development Exercise was a “veiled” attempt by the Ministry of Education to get teachers into the schools, so they can be vaccinated. Citing safety and security concerns as reasons, the Union, instead, proposed that the Professional Development Exercise be conducted virtually, “either during the last week of this term, or the first week of the Easter break.” The Union is firm that members must be allowed to exercise their right to make their own decision with respect to the COVID-19 vaccine. “Teachers feel intimidated,” Williams asserted. He declared that members will not be “bullied nor pressured,” into any situation. He asserted that any effort intended to force vaccines on teachers, amounted to a form of modern slavery,
Vanrick Williams, First Vice President (Acting) of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers’ Union (SVGTU, issued a strong message to the Ministry of Education. by WILLIAM ‘KOJAH’ ANTHONY VANRICK WILLIAMS, First Vice President (Acting) of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers’ Union (SVGTU), made it clear to the Ministry of Education that their members will not be bullied into taking the COVID-19 vaccine. He made the position clear during a press conference hosted by the Union at its McKies Hill headquarters, last Tuesday, to inform the media about decisions made at a general meeting of the SVGTU held last Sunday. This position comes on the heels of a Ministry of Education directive to teachers that they should make themselves available for a Professional Development Exercise from last Wednesday, March 17, to today, Friday, March 19. From what could be discerned from Williams’ presentation, teachers are suspicious that the Professional
and he reminded the authorities that, “Slavery has been abolished.” Notwithstanding their position regarding the Professional Development Exercise, teachers are not opposed to returning to the classroom on April 12, as proposed by the government. However, the SVGTU is insisting that: “All COVID-19 protocols must be in place, including social distancing and adequate sanitization stations,” Williams said. He, however, warned that there could well be a breach of the protocol as it related to social/physical distancing. Given that the students would not have interacted for some time, it was likely that they will engage in physical greetings, fisting, handshakes, even hugging, even under the watchful eyes
of teachers. Transportation was another bone of contention for the Union with Williams, on behalf of teachers, wanting to know if the Ministry of Education would ensure that reliable transportation was in placed to serve the students. He reminded that the government had enacted an SR&O, which expires on March 27, which cut in half the number of passengers that minibuses buses are allowed to carry. All in all, the SVGTU First Vice President (Ag) is of the view that the government ought to be grateful for the approach the Union is taking, as it makes a success of the ‘Education Revolution’ when persons are engaged in “critical thinking.” “You can see it is coming from teachers,” Williams said.
VACCINES NOT REQUIRED BY TEACHERS they return to the classrooms on April 12. This was the assurance given by Education Minister Curtis King, in response to the Parliamentary Representative for the Southern Grenadines Terrence Ollivierre’s supplementary question in Parliament on March 16. King explained that the non-obligatory position was based on the premise that getting the vaccine was not a legal prerequisite. Minister of Education The Minister, however, Curtis King assured that said that his Ministry is vaccine was not mandatory bolstered by the fact that for teachers returniong to government has made school. available a vaccine to all citizens, and he encouraged by DAYLE DASILVA all teachers to take the vaccine. TEACHERS ARE NOT “The Ministry,” he said, OBLIGATED to get the “had concluded the process COVID-19 vaccine before of sensitizing our teachers
on the vaccines.” Ollivierre had earlier posed a question about the mechanisms being implemented to facilitate the safe reopening of schools, to which King responded that the protocols were presently being updated in preparation for the return to the classroom. As for instructional time that had been lost due to the change from face-to-face instruction to online schooling since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, King admitted that this was difficult to quantify. He assured, though, that his Ministry was working on an academic recovery programme that will provide a multiple-prong approach to address the issue of instructional time lost due to the coronavirus.
Parliamentary Representative for the Southern Grenadines Terrence Ollivierre. The programme is being developed with the support of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) with funding from the Global Partnership for Education.