The $300 stipend for teachers requested by the BVI Teacher’s Union is ready for distribution with a majority of checks now printed.
This was announced by the Minister of Education, Dr. the Honorable Natalio Wheatley on October 31st, who stated that the stipend was among one of five written requests made by the union in support of teachers.
In regard to the stipend, Union President, Tammy Henry, wrote: “This payment is both symbolic and practical. It will both serve as an acknowledgement of the extraordinary effort of our teachers during this ongoing pandemic, and it will repay a small portion of the monies that teachers spent to ready themselves to teach during the past school year.”
During last night’s update the Minister said “In agreement with this request for a “symbolic and practical” payment from the Teachers Union, we budgeted the funds in the adjustment budget passed in September, and the Ministry processed the vouchers and 75% of cheques were printed this past week, and are now ready for distribution.”
Two past-due increments for teachers were recently approved within the adjustment budget and Minister Wheatley also noted that he is advocating for increased compensation for teachers.
Both initiatives were proposed by the BVI Teachers Union in conversation with the Ministry.
“The second request of the Teachers Union was for the payment of two past due increments, and the third request was for active participation in the salary review process. I am pleased to report that the 2017 increments were passed in the recent adjustment budget and are presently being processed by Human Resources.”
“Also, Director of HR, Michelle Donovan-Stevens, in a statement released on September 9th 2021, confirmed the full involvement of the Teaching Union, among other stakeholders, in this cabinet commissioned salary review, which is the first review in 19 years,” Dr. Wheatley added.
While some progress was made on the requests of the Teachers’ Union, the Minister said he is aware that there are a multiplicity of other concerns that affect teachers, which led to the sickout last week.
Following the silent strike, Minister Wheatley revealed that he consulted with educators to come to a resolve.
“On Thursday night, I engaged over one hundred teachers in dialogue to ascertain the specific challenges that frustrated teachers to the point of making this public statement. These included concerns about salary, the condition of the workplace, management, and human resources related concerns among others.”
“Let me affirm, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that our teachers have indisputably valid concerns that must be addressed. Therefore, I would never feel offended when anyone says they stand with teachers. I, too, stand with teachers. We all should stand with teachers,” the Minister said.
Within his extended update, the education Minister also challenged all elected members in the House of Assembly to support the allocation of $2 million dollars in the upcoming budget for a complete overhaul of schools.
He said this will make sure that every single school has the money that is required to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for all students.