And while the NTUCB keeps up its crusade against corruption, the teachers are holding strong in their fight against the government's salary cut.
It's a debacle that's touched every practitioner of the profession and this morning while at Stella Maris we asked principal Karema Arnold, who was decked out in green, about her position on the Union's fight and whether or not she feels it's compromising her student's education.
Karema Arnold - Principal, Stella Marris "We understand that this whole pandemic has taken a toll on everybody, the entire economic system of the world, however like you rightly mentioned, teachers have taken the time to qualify themselves to ensure that they gain the necessary credentials that they need to be in this profession. Taking away our salary is somewhat like a slap in the face, this is my point of view and it's not something that we're taking quite easily or taking sitting down, there must be other options that the government can take or look at before they say this is what we're going to do and hands down."
Cherisse Halsall "Now you've talked about regression and everything that entails and so if you feel that you have to take a stance for the union which you're justified as a union member to do, how will that thought process go when you think about all these kids that are regressing and do need to come back into the classroom but you guys have your needs as well."
Karema Arnold "What we recognize is that like you rightly said, the needs of our children and as we speak, we have teachers who have been reaching out to parents and finding out their take on it. As a union member we come together, our theme is solidarity, we will ensure that we come together if that means we have to put all this aside momentarily and we have parents understand that what we're doing is not just for now, we want to set the ground work for our children's children and for the next generations to come to ensure that all these things that we're doing now that they don't have to go through."
Stella Marris has proposed a phased half-day reopening commencing on May the 10th.
