In Brief
- TTUTA Rejects Claims: TTUTA President Crystal Asche has rejected the Prime Minister’s accusation that the Association has done nothing to protect students and teachers from violence and indiscipline in schools.
- Common Ground on Safety: Asche said TTUTA agrees with the need for a safe educational environment but differs on how the nation should respond to persistently disruptive or violent students.
- Call for Intervention: TTUTA maintains that discipline must be paired with effective intervention, and has called on the Ministry of Education to provide the necessary personnel, programmes and resources.
- Ministry Engagement Denied: Asche said TTUTA had repeatedly requested a meeting with the Ministry of Education on school safety and discipline, but these requests were never granted.
By Alicia Chamely
The Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA) is rejecting claims by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar that it has done nothing and is doing nothing to protect students and teachers from violence and indiscipline in schools.
In a voice note on Wednesday afternoon, TTUTA President Crystal Asche said the Prime Minister’s accusations were unfair and did “not reflect the Association’s long-standing role as an education stakeholder and advocate for better conditions for teachers and students.”
Rejecting Persad-Bissessar’s claims, Asche said, “TTUTA condemns violence, bullying, intimidation, and abuse in and around our schools.”
“We also reject any suggestion that the Association is indifferent to the safety of teachers and students, or that TTUTA’s advocacy amounts to support for violent or disrespectful behaviour,” he said.
Asche said Persad-Bissessar had rightly highlighted the need for a safe educational environment, and TTUTA supported that objective.
He said, however, “Where we differ is on the question of how the nation should respond to students whose behaviour is persistently disruptive or violent.”
“Our position is simple: it is that safety, accountability, discipline, and meaningful intervention must all operate together,” he said.
Asche dismissed Persad-Bissessar’s insinuation that TTUTA wanted violent students to remain in schools without consequences.
He said it was TTUTA’s position “that effective discipline must be accompanied by effective intervention, and that the Ministry of Education must provide the personnel, the programmes, the resources necessary to make that possible.”
“We can be firm on discipline, uncompromising on safety, and still insist that children who are struggling receive that intervention,” he added.
In a press release the same day, Asche stated TTUTA had reached out to the Ministry of Education on numerous occasions requesting an audience to discuss safety in schools and effective discipline; however, its requests were never granted.
Asche said TTUTA believed one could not “arrest, suspend or expel” its way out of school violence.
He said it required a functioning system of prevention, intervention, support and rehabilitation.
Asche said TTUTA would continue to advocate for its members and the wider community, push for safe and properly resourced schools, and speak out on national issues that affect education and the welfare of students and teachers.
