Protest delays start to CXC exams at Anchovy High
Published:Tuesday | May 31, 2022 | 12:40 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
STUDENTS OF the St James-based Anchovy High School had a lengthy wait to sit their Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC)-administered tests on Monday morning, as auxiliary staff padlocked the front gate as they called for the removal of the school’s bursar.
The Gleaner understands that the protest was prompted by long-standing issues with the school bursar, Dionne Hines, who the staff blamed for frequent late payments of salaries.
A Jamaica Fire Brigade response team removed the padlock at 9 a.m. – an hour after the closure – allowing the students to enter the compound, roughly half an hour late to prepare to sit the external exams.
Sixteen-year-old student Oneil Wright said that the protest had caused him and his peers to lose their focus.
“Because it is CXC, which is a big exam, we should not come out here and be made to stand up for these things,” Wright complained of the protest.
“Normally, we would come and get half an hour to study, but, because of what happened, we didn’t get any time to study. I think it should be resolved by the prime minister taking a big step in ensuring that every teacher gets paid, because it is very important for people to have an education for a better life,” Wright added.
Another Grade 10 student, Akelia Sinclair, also noted the mental toll the disruption could have on the students sitting exams, even as she sympathised with the disgruntled staff.
“To be honest, I feel bad for the teachers because I think they deserve better pay, because they work hard. But the students prepared for their exams, they studied and did everything, and now they come on Monday morning and they can’t do it, and they won’t be able to remember and they will still be in the mental state that school is not keeping,” said Sinclair.
Nicoleen Robinson-Brown, a member of the school board and representative of the ancillary workers, told The Gleaner that the issue of late payment of salaries had been raised with the administrators on several occasions but had not been resolved.
“Our salary is being late over and over and we are tired and fed up of it now. We get paid on a fortnight and, every time it is not ready. And when it is not the account in the bank, it is the cheque that is late,” Robinson-Brown explained.
“It has been a while, from late last November. From the one-off payment that the Government said we must get of $40,000, is from that time the pay has been delaying and late,” Robinson-Brown added.
She was referencing an announcement made by the Ministry of Education last September that a payment of $40,000 should be made to each academic and administrative staff member, while ancillary employees should each be paid $25,000. That provision was made in response to the COVID-19 economic crunch affecting employees of independent schools, following the closure of physical classes in 2020 at the time of the pandemic’s outbreak.
In the meantime, Anchovy High Chairman Nigel Golaub said that a meeting had already been scheduled for June 4 to iron out the grievances.
“The truth is, last Friday, the principal called me in anticipation of this issue. I told her to write a letter to the bursar and I thought the bursar would have acted on it,” said Golaub. “It can be resolved and was scheduled to be resolved on June 4. I think good sense will prevail, and I hope good reasoning will prevail on all sides.”
Robinson-Brown and her fellow workers remain adamant that Hines must be shown the door.
“If she (Hines) is not willing to work with us, we are not going to work with her,” said Robinson-Brown.
Efforts to reach Hines for a comment were unsuccessful as she was not at the school at the time of the protest. Calls and messages to her phone went unanswered.