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The Ministry of Education has referred the School-Based Assessments (SBA) issue to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and the Chief Personnel Officer for a ruling on the matter.
This comes less than one month after president of the T&T Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) Lynsley Doodhai warned the ministry that when the new academic year opens in September secondary school teachers will not be marking students’ SBAs unless they are paid for the job.
Education Minister Anthony Garcia shot back, stating that TTUTA’s statement was “highly irresponsible” since the non-submission of SBA marks will result in the failure of thousands of students.
Yesterday, Garcia held a meeting with Philip Kalloo, first vice President of Association of Principals of Secondary Schools and National Parent Teachers Association president Raffiena Ali-Boodoosingh to get their views on the matter, following which he held a press conference at his ministry’s Port-of-Spain office to share their views on the position.
TTUTA was not invited to the meeting, Garcia said since they had already outlined their case.
Kalloo said they support the ministry’s view of the teachers’ responsibilities to the marking of SBA’s.
Garcia expressed deep concerned with TTUTA’s instructions, saying he wants a peaceful resolution to the problem as “there was no need to engage in a public squabble or fight with the union that represents teachers,” because the only ones who will suffer are the students.
“One of the issues by the association (TTUTA), is that, correcting SBAs does not fall within the ambit of the terms and conditions of a teacher,” Garcia said.
The ministry, Garcia said has consulted with its legal department and sought its own opinion, which they “would forward to the AG so there would be some synergy where those two opinions are concerned” as he hoped to get a final determination on the matter next week.
The ministry has also written the Chief Personnel Officer asking for a ruling on the matter, Garcia said.
A student’s SBA contributes to 20 per cent of the final Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) mark on a subject. There are 6,500 secondary teachers. Approximately 8,000 students write CAPE and 16,000 students sit the CSEC examination annually.
CXC had increased the number of subjects to 32 which require the marking of SBAs.
Lenor Baptiste-Simmons, the ministry’s permanent secretary said the issue was that teachers felt “overburdened and that it was difficult to be able to undertake this task.”
She said there needs to be a process of parallel thinking and solutions that are workable.
Garcia said there was also need for a policy document on the administration of the SBAs with clear guidelines for responsibilities set by CXC.
Doodhai could not be reached for comment yesterday.