Minister of Education the Hon. Shawn Richards
Minister of Education the Honorable Shawn K Richards, in an exclusive interview with Freedom Newsdesk on Wednesday said “no request was made by the St. Kitts Teachers’ Union to have a march” on Friday to acknowledge World Teachers’ Day.
Richards commended the teachers for educating the federation’s children and wished them a Happy World Teachers Day, saying “the teachers have ensured that there is sustainable development of education in SKN”.
To answer the specific question as to why the Ministry of Education has not given permission for the teachers march, Richards said “there was no such request before the Ministry of Education”.
Richards alluded to the fact that correspondence was received from the Teachers’ Union requesting Friday as the usual day off for teachers.
“Additionally there was a request to have some 33 teachers given the Thursday off to attend a seminar held over 2 days on Thursday and Friday”.
Richards said the Ministry acceded to the request to have the selected teachers given the Friday off to attend the conference but that there was no request made to have a day off to march.
Richards said that in a conversation with the Ministry, Ms. Andrea Browne, an executive of the Teachers’ Union , clarification was sought on this issue and during that meeting it was verified that there were no plans to have a march this year, the Minister stated.