April 21, 2023 at 2:16 pm
Updated: Declaration of Trade Dispute with the Education Ministry – COPE
Updated on 25th April: The Directive still applies for COPE session on curricular subjects carried out by EOs or HODs as directed by the Education Ministry. It is being clarified that the following are excluded from this directive: Church and Independent schools, professional development sessions carried out by units, institutes, schools or colleges.
The MUT has declared a Trade Dispute with the Education Ministry on the training sessions (COPE) being held in the coming weeks. The MUT has ordered directives to EOs and HODs some months ago due to the lack of information (to be passed to educators) and the absence of logistical assistance about COPE. Besides the logistics, the major issue is that officers who were supposed to give training were not informed about the curricular decisions being taken in relation to changes in syllabi, examinations, Learning Outcomes, SBAs, etc. The training proposed would only raise several questions which would remain unanswered by these officers due to the lack of direction from the Curriculum Department. There was ample time for the Curriculum Department to try to address these shortcomings but instead the same department resorted to unorthodox, last-minute methods to silence, humiliate and isolate dissenting officers whilst ignoring the pleas which were made. This attitude generated a wave of distrust in the same Curriculum Department, which is shared by the Union. To this effect the MUT is:
Declaring a trade dispute with the Education Ministry;
Extending the directive on COPE to all grades. All grades including Teachers, LSEs, KGEs, AHs, HODs, EOs and HOS should not carry out any work on COPE and should not participate in COPE sessions.
The MUT does not exclude an escalation of directives should the Education Ministry forge ahead with the COPE as planned.
