San Fernando: Education Minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh has condemned the actions of the Chairman of the Anjuman Sunnat-Ul-Jamaat (ASJA) board, Yacoob Ali and teachers and parents who attempted to deny an economics teacher, Patricia Mohammed access to the staff room at the ASJA Girls College.
The parents and teachers are arguing that the teacher has not been performing well academically.
The minister says the teacher must be allowed entry into the school to perform her duties.
He says there is currently no action against the teacher by the Teaching Service Commission.
Instead he says there is a determination being made on what transpired between the principal of the school and the teacher, for which the principal is currently on suspension.
The minister says the ASJA board is not authorised to prevent Mohammed from performing her duties at the school under Section 16.2 of the Education Act which states that the board must comply with the directive of the Minister of Education.
Minister Gopeesingh says keeping the teacher away from duties cannot happen unless there is a formal request from the board to the ministry, which would then be investigated and reported to the Teaching Service Commission for action.
He says that even so, any removal of a teacher must be on moral and spiritual grounds.
He says the actions of the board and the staff must not be condoned.
ASJA chairman Yacoob Ali has admitted that the scenario looked bad but he insists that there was no thuggery on the part of the teachers and parents.
He says no one is going to interfere with the teacher and that all they were doing yesterday was to let the ministry hear their concerns.
He argues that a report made by the principal against the teacher is not being properly explored by the ministry.
The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers Association (TTUTA) has also condemned the blocking of the teacher and has described it as thuggery.
Mohammed was physically blocked by teachers and parents who formed a human barricade as she attempted to enter the school's staff room.
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