Education Minister Plea with Teachers to Return to Class

As the teachers’ sickout continues to disrupt classrooms across the country, the Minister of Education is urging calm—and calling for action. Oscar Requena says he’s deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of students left without supervision. Today, he made a heartfelt plea for teachers to return to the classroom, emphasizing the importance of keeping children safe and engaged in learning. As for what happens next, Requena says the ball is now in the government’s court, with the negotiation team set to decide the way forward.

 

Oscar Requena, Minister of Education

“Absolutely very much concerning because as you know our parents send their children to school. There are issues of safety, issues of students losing contact time and not being engaged in learning. That is a concern for us and parents. I want to make a special plea to our teachers. I believe in good faith, we are still in negotiations, I believe that respectfully our teachers should reconsider and go back to the classroom. We want to ensure that first and foremost our children are safe and meaningful engage in learning.”

 

Paul Lopez

“How do you plan to tackle this situation if it escalates to further sickout and with the twenty-days notice of strike action already being issued?”

 

Oscar Requena

“Well it is a matter for the joint negotiating team and for us to be guided by Cabinet to consider a way forward.  What we have to do as the ministry of education, we will continue to be proactive, monitor the situation, and we are also appealing with management to be able to support this process, because management also have a responsibility to ensure our children are safe and are in schools. You may have heard the presentation made by Mr. Usher where he said that if you really calculate, even though it is a phased in approach in terms of the benefits, it really works out to about fourteen percent. It is something the teachers should consider.”