A missed opportunity
Teachers – or, perhaps, the unions representing them – have missed a golden chance to dispel the idea, which other professions, offices and workplaces share, that they put holidays too high on their list of priorities.
A few days ago, it was revealed that the government had suggested that the two days of Carnival holidays are not taken in February, but postponed to a later date. With Carnival activities cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is no point in having Carnival holidays, it was argued.
But the two teachers’ unions, for once in agreement with each other, turned down the suggestion. Carnival holidays are sacrosanct, and they cannot be postponed, was the reply.
Let’s make it clear – the government did not suggest that the two days of holidays are “cancelled”, but “postponed” to a later date. Still, the two unions disagreed.
It would have done the teaching profession a world of good if the unions had accepted the idea. It would have been a very small expense to pay, even considering that these two days of holidays would have been added somewhere down the line – either finish the scholastic year two days before or start the next one two days later, for example.
The unions’ disagreement comes at a time when many other professions have had to make sacrifices which are bigger than just postponing two days of vacation.
Teachers have not lost their jobs, as others did because of the pandemic. They did not have their salaries cut, as others had because of the virus. Their income was untouched, unlike that of owners of restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, bars and clubs, not to mention the many workers employed in these particular sectors.
Yes, teachers did have to make adjustments to the way they perform their duties (like most other workers). It was not easy to teach from home, with all the technical complications and students who get distracted more than they do when in the confines of the classroom.
Yes, they did go out of their way to continue to support their pupils, especially those who found it harder to keep up.
Yes, they had to get used to new ways at school – when they returned in October after having been out since March – because of the restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic.
And, yes, they are exposed more than others to the possibility of contagion, although much less than the frontliners who have to deal with sick people in hospitals and old people’s homes.
It must be recalled that the 2020-2021 scholastic year started later than usual because the necessary arrangements demanded by the teachers were not ready in time. Then, after the Christmas holidays, teachers were on a two-day strike as they insisted for better protocols. While their right to protest and take industrial action must always be protected, these two incidents show that the government has listened to what the unions were requesting.
So it would not have been a bad idea for the teachers – and their unions – to give something back by having Carnival holidays postponed.
Yes, postponed, not cancelled.