- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 08/Jul 04:20

Filling of vacancies

BASED on newspaper reports (June 24), Education Minister Michael Dowlath revealed some startling statistics regarding the number of vacant positions in the teaching service, particularly at the administrative level. While this may have surprised members of the national community, TTUTA was not. This is a problem the association has been repeatedly expressing serious concern about, raising it with the relevant authorities, namely the Ministry of Education and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) at every opportunity. From the perspective of the TSC, the explanations for its inability to fulfil its mandate include primarily the lack of adequate resources – personnel and money, as well as poor communications arrangements between itself and the ministry that impede its efforts to fill vacancies in a timely manner While the TSC is ready and willing to do its job, it requires close and efficient collaboration with the ministry, re. the timely and efficient exchange of information/particulars along with the adequate allocation of resources. TTUTA strongly suspects that the conscious and deliberate starvation of funding to the TSC has been a tacit ploy to continue painting it as inefficient and unable to deliver on its mandate, justifying a political case for its dismantling. Successive governments have expressed this desire. From the perspective of the ministry, TTUTA has discerned that it also is resource challenged, with many positions in its administrative staffing structure remaining vacant for prolonged periods. However, it consistently counterclaims that the relevant correspondences/files are sent to the TSC for its attention and action in a timely manner. Somehow the TSC seems to never receive these files. The narrative of, “we haven’t received the file from the ministry” to, “but we sent that file to the commission months ago” has become a familiar refrain for teachers and the association over the years. Aside from the efforts of the TSC and the ministry to improve its communications systems to facilitate timely exchange of data, the bigger problem of resource deprivation remains a glaring one that must be addressed with alacrity. TTUTA has repeatedly highlighted the apparent "freeze" in the hiring of personnel to fill many permanent positions in the public service, along with the covert and simultaneous development of an almost parallel public service characterised by contract employment – a vexing issue that deprives workers of many of their fundamental rights. Then labour minister, Jenifer Baptiste-Primus, had promised to urgently address this upon her ascension to ministerial office. Now that another former PSA president heads the labour ministry, it is hoped that the practice of contract employment and timely filling of vacancies are addressed frontally for its naked and underhanded efforts to mix the separation of powers between the legislature and the executive by allowing politicians to hire and fire public officers at their fanciful discretion. This issue was highlighted in the 2023 report of the Auditor General, namely the propensity of successive governments to deploy contract labour at ministerial discretion, circumventing the role of the commissions and flagrantly disregarding good industrial relations practice. Having highlighted the gravity of the problem and its deleterious impact on the school system, it is anticipated that the minister and his colleagues would take urgent steps to address the issue by enabling the respective commissions to fill the hundreds of vacant positions in both the teaching and public services through the allocation of adequate funding. Staffing shortages must be promptly addressed at both the commission and the ministry. The TSC must be given the money to expedite its selection and appointment systems to deal with the huge backlog identified by the minister. It is untenable that people are forced to act in various administrative positions in the school system for years and, worse, without remuneration for duties performed in the higher posts. This crisis of leadership in our school system, as identified by the minister, impacts negatively not only on employee morale, but on overall school culture and ethos. It is very frustrating for people to be acting as principals, vice principals, heads of department, deans and senior teachers for several years, not knowing what their future holds. These prolonged transient states of existence also make such people vulnerable to manipulation by those higher up in the chain of command. It also prevents the right people from being placed in the position to carry out the duties and responsibilities, with the security of having been appointed to the post. Our schools and the education system certainly deserve better. Over to you, Mr Minister! The post Filling of vacancies appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.