Teachers, at all levels of education across Anguilla, have met with Ministers of Government to hear about various matters relating to the financial and economic situation of the island as well as issues affecting them and their schools. The meeting was one of the main activities in observance of Teachers’ Week.
President of the Anguilla Teachers’ Union, Ms. Michele Queeley, speaking at the large gathering at the Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium on Thursday, October 6, said: “One of the things we decided to do was to make it a point of duty to arrange for teachers to have the opportunity to meet Government officials formally and voice their concerns. We don’t have to wait until we reach, so to speak, crisis points, as educators, before we can call on Government. We feel that the stakeholders in education actually play a critical role in the partnerships we are trying to establish, and so the Anguilla Teachers’ Union decided to invite all the Ministers of Government to participate in this very important forum.”
The forum, chaired by Mr. Dwayne Adams, a teacher at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School, had as the first Government speaker, Chief Minister, Mr. Victor Banks. He said one of the major challenges his Government faced, on coming to office, was the resolution of the banking situation. The second was to ensure its success by working towards overall economic activity in the private and public sectors. Currently, the Government’s efforts include the resolution of the Cap Juluca issue by bringing all the ownership parties together in a common agreement; work towards a yacht marina at Altamer Resort and other upland development; the processing of a number of new private sector investment projects; and, in the public sector, port improvement and tourism promotion.
“I am imploring teachers to begin to educate the young people on the importance of Anguilla as a tourist destination,” Mr. Banks continued. “Tourism is an industry that can be diversified. We can develop our fishing industry as part of providing support for the tourist industry; we can develop our arts and crafts sector; our restaurant services, our commercial services and a host of other areas. But, at the end of the day, it is important that we focus on this critically core tourism industry that is responsible for generating the incomes that we, as a Government, need to ensure that teachers have the resources they require to do the jobs that we expect of them and to secure the young people for the future of Anguilla.”
He further stated: “The economy is facing some challenging times at this period of the year, as it always faces. We want to move into the tourism season with a new beginning and also a new focus on investment. There are a number of investors who are interested in marina development in the Little Harbour, Forest Bay areas and Road Point areas, as well as a planned development at Altamer and a number of projects in the Meads Bay area. There is an endless amount of interest. We are all working to create a vibrant and growing economy that can meet the needs of our teachers and our students, as well as the people of Anguilla as a whole.
“I would like to congratulate teachers and to commend them for the hard work they are doing, and we are pleased with the results we have seen in the recent external examinations.”
One of the concerns the Government heard was the need for teachers, who are marking SBA’s online for CXC examinations, to have personal computers to do so rather than having to go to the school’s busy computer lab.
The Minister of Education, Mr. Evans McNiel Rogers, replied to that concern as follows: “That is something that has to be done in connection with CXC and all the Governments of the region. Anguilla is not isolated in the sense that the individuals who are marking the examinations don’t have computers. I can assure you that teachers in a number of other member islands have serious issues with that matter as well. On the 18th and 19th of this month we are expected to be in St. Vincent, and one of the items on the agenda for the OECS and CARICOM Ministers of Government is that same issue: access to computers for CXC marking in general. We are therefore not just looking at this issue from Anguilla’s standpoint, but from both a regional and local perspective.”
Mr. Rogers also used the opportunity to address the teachers on Government’s plans to refurbish and equip a number of school buildings, thus substantially improving the physical aspects of education and the accommodation and comfort of teachers and students.
Another matter, which the teachers were concerned about, was the accumulation of money owed to them, and other public servants, over the past few years in salary deductions. They were assured by the Chief Minister that the Government would continue to work towards meeting its commitment to pay the deferred amounts by December 2017. “I guess you can look forward to a nice nest egg,” Mr. Banks assured the teachers. He noted that a number of public servants, who had certain emergencies, were granted their deferred payments to meet those needs.
The teachers informed the Government that they were having difficulty in gaining access to sound systems for their various activities, noting that it was not always possible to have the assistance of privately-owned equipment. The matter was noted as something which will have to be explored in due course.
A question, not related to education, was: “Is there a law against high-rise buildings in Anguilla which have gone up in several areas of the island – and is this how our skyline will look in terms of height?”
Chief Minister Banks replied in part: “Before we came into office, a number of adjustments were made to the planning requirements by the Ministry of Planning, between 2010 and 2015, that I am not aware of, but that I would have met in place now that I am the Minister of Planning. This was in relation to a number of projects that were already approved for heights over the normal number of storeys or fifty-two feet. I know that the height of buildings has been increased but it is being done on an individual basis in terms of the area or aesthetics where they are located and so forth. You must realise also that there is a need for the efficient use of our land resources.”
The Chief Minister continued: “Anguilla is a small place, with a growing population, and it is best to make certain accommodations to ensure that we are able to have more development on our scare land resources. It means that Physical Planning may make certain exemptions to the regulations…Physical Planning is operating within the confines of its policy to make certain decisions – and from time to time it has public consultations during which location and heights of buildings and other issues are dealt with. It is a process that does not happen without the support of the community. Some people like to see a busy commercial area and are more concerned with occupancy and efficiency than heights and issues of that nature.”
Chief Minister Banks and Minister Rogers were accompanied at the meeting by the Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Curtis Richardson, the Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs. Cora Richardson Hodge, and her Ministerial Assistant, Mrs. Evalie Bradley. They also joined in the discussions with the teachers.
