Just over two weeks from the reopening of all schools and yet again in the midst of an escalation of covid cases both in and outside of Gibraltar, TG is wary that not all necessary measures have been put in place to prepare our schools for any eventuality in the new academic year.

In the words of Charlie Bishop, president of NASUWT Gibraltar, teachers have been the “last to know” about the details surrounding the return to schools, and that there has been no recent consultation with them regarding these details. Mr Bishop mentioned in a Newswatch interview yesterday that the union requires “clear instructions in a policy document” about how to implement the plans announced in Parliament (clearly not the most useful forum to communicate these measures, especially when no practical policy guidelines are issued to teachers simultaneously) to continue providing the service while adhering to covid health and safety standards.

Together Gibraltar is concerned that announcing a list of sketchy measures (some of which will be implemented “wherever possible” as per the ministers Parliament announcement), without providing sufficient detail about the implementation, so close to the start of term, uncovers both a worrying lack of planning and insufficient communication with stakeholders.

TG believes that with the right emphasis and deployment of resources, these planning and communication deficits can be corrected before the start of the new academic year, and urges government to make preparing teachers for our ‘new normal’ education system a priority over the coming weeks.                         

The following link shows the Parliamentary exchange between TG leader Marlene Hassan Nahon and Minister Licudi in which the list of measures for the return to school were announced. Over a month later and just over 2 weeks before school starts, teachers are yet to receive any other practical information to help them in their implementation: