Open let­ter to Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Tim Gopeesingh: You are hav­ing a prob­lem with vi­o­lence in schools, yet you have dis­con­tin­ued the sub­sti­tute teacher pro­gramme. Why?

This pro­gramme meant that stu­dents were not with­out a teacher when teach­ers were on ma­ter­ni­ty leave or ex­tend­ed sick leave. We are back to square one with class­es with­out teach­ers for months.

The Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion had a pro­gramme that filled an ur­gent need. Please re­con­sid­er con­tin­u­ing it.

S Robert­son

San Fer­nan­do