From Caribbean360

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Monday July 21, 2014, CMC – Teachers are shaping up for a possible showdown with Government over pending charges of misconduct against one of their own, that stemmed from comments made at political meeting.

The Ministry of Education last week notified Combermere Secondary School teacher, Reverend Charles Morris, that disciplinary charges were being pursued against him.

The teacher, a former member of parliament, said the notification of pending charges had to do with opinions he shared earlier this year at a meeting of the Opposition Barbados Labour Party.

“We are monitoring very carefully this situation as it relates to Reverend Morris,” President of the Barbados Secondary Teachers Union, Mary Redman, said Sunday.

She told the Sunday Sun newspaper, “He is our longstanding member and in true fashion we will stoutly defend him and secure his rights in any upcoming process, not for him personally but for all other teachers and public officers”.

She said government officials, “must ask themselves who stands most to lose in the eyes of the public in a situation like this”.

On a political platform in February Morris contended, among other things, that the present administration comprised the worst government Barbados had ever seen. He blamed it along with the trade unions and the churches for failing to protect the people. He had argued that they should be charged with dereliction of duty.

Redman said the pending prosecution of Morris raises questions of freedom of speech, and that as a citizen, he is entitled to express himself.

“Certain statements emanating from those at the highest levels of the Ministry of Education make us question their belief in, and commitment to those principles.

“When a government, through its words and/or actions gives the impression that it is above criticism and will not tolerate it from its citizens…we have a serious cause for concern.”

IMAGE: COMBERMERE SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHER, REVEREND CHARLES MORRIS (CREDIT: NATIONNEWS, BARBADOS)

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