Independence City Primary protests after guidance counsellor post cut

 

Classes are expected to resume Tuesday at Independence City Primary School in St. Catherine following Monday's suspension to discuss the urgent need for a guidance counsellor.

 

Teachers and parents staged a protest Monday morning following a decision from the Ministry of Education to remove one of two guidance counsellor posts at the school. 

 

They are calling for the ministry to roll back the decision, which they say has already begun to affect the school's administration. 

 

The school reportedly had two guidance counsellors since 2001, however, a correspondence from the Ministry of Education explaining the cut said the ministry cannot afford a second counsellor.  

 

The ministry has said there is one guidance counsellor for every 500 students. 

 

But the school's chairman argued that there are more than 1,100 students at the school, which justifies the need for more than one counsellor.  

 

Board Chairman Merlene Watson Evans said the school is having difficulty coping with several challenges, including a vaping investigation, after a recent video showed students at the primary school engaging in the activity which is dangerous for children. 

 

These difficulties are why the school administration and parents want the ministry to rethink the decision to remove one of the guidance counsellors.  

 

She said she has written to the Ministry of Education, spoken with Acting Chief Education Officer Dr. Kasan Troupe and even camped out at Parliament to speak with Education Minister Fayval Williams, and to date there has been no response. 

 

"The teachers are overwhelmed because we're just not managing. We are short-staffed, we are short on guidance counsellor. Now I have to be here five, six, seven days a week trying to assist for the good running of the institution. We can’t continue like this," Mrs Watson Evans lamented as she begged the ministry to re-deploy a second guidance counsellor to the school. 

 

She added that teachers have had to suspend lessons to deal with disciplinary and other issues at the institution that would normally be the responsibility of the guidance counsellor.