From St Lucia Times

The 38^th biennial conference of the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT) held in St Lucia last week has been deemed a tremendous success

CUT President, Julian Monrose said the forum created a platform for the further development of the organization and its affiliates.

Monrose, who was re-elected by acclamation for second two year term, said he was thankful for the opportunity to lead the organization.

He echoed earlier statements by the President of Education International Susan Hopgood that the state of the public school system in many countries of this region does not reflect the importance attached by Caribbean people to quality education for their children.

Mr. Monrose said educators must be given the necessary resources in order for education to achieve its role and he expressed concern about cuts in spending on education by governments of the region.

“If we, in countries with very little resources, have agreed that our major resource is the people and that we need to get them properly educated so that they can assure the progress of the various territories in the Caribbean we have to be willing to spend serious resources in that area,” he said.

Mr. Monrose said he was particularly concerned about the situation of health and safety in schools. He said too many schools are broken down and have health problems. He said Ministries of Education in the region are playing scant regard to those issues.

“We cannot be educating children in an environment that create problems for their health because it wouldn’t be good spending of resources if we have children who are well educated but are not healthy,”

He said the Caribbean Union of Teachers plans to pressure regional governments to ensure that they take issues of health and safety in schools very seriously.

The Caribbean Union of Teachers is a grouping of teacher trade unions from throughout the region.

For more on this story go to: https://stluciatimes.com/2017/08/09/caribbean-union-teachers-concerned-health-safety-schools