Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
The Ministry of Education has been ordered to reinstate a long serving teacher, who turned down a promotion to be the principal of a primary school due to her daughter’s medical condition before having a change of heart days later.
High Court Judge Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell gave the order last week after the ministry and the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) conceded the judicial review lawsuit brought by Indra Ramdatt-Jagdeo.
According to her court filings, in April, Ramdatt-Jagdeo took up a promotion to be the principal of the Happy Hill SDMS Primary School in Gasparillo.
Ramdatt-Jagdeo, who is a widow and has been a single parent to her two children for the past 15 years, claimed that around the time she took up the appointment, the health of her daughter, who has a spinal birth defect, began to worsen.
She claimed that she was distressed and had doubts over her ability to take on the promotion based on her daughter’s deteriorating condition and the fact that she (her daughter) was due to undergo a risky procedure that could have resulted in her being paralysed from the neck down.
In late April, Ramdatt-Jagdeo tendered her resignation based on alleged advice from an unnamed official of the TSC, as she claimed that she was under the impression that she could resume her duties as a teacher after.
Her resignation letter was only received several days later, when it was stamped by a school supervisor.
Two days later, however, Ramdatt-Jagdeo had a change of heart and wrote to the ministry seeking to rescind her previous correspondence.
While ministry officials allegedly indicated that the withdrawal of her resignation could be facilitated based on the short time line, she was later informed that this was not possible due to resistance from the school’s denominational board.
Ramdatt-Jagdeo claimed that she met with board officials, who indicated that they preferred that she did not return to the post based on her indecisiveness.
She claimed that she was forced to file the lawsuit after she attempted to rectify the situation with the ministry to no avail.
In her court filings, Ramdatt-Jagdeo’s lawyers from the Freedom Law Chambers claimed that she was regretful for the inconvenience caused by the initial letter.
“Within two days she submitted the letter of retraction, yet she has been left in a state of abeyance and limbo when she has not been appointed to serve in an office in the teaching service. This has caused her severe hardship, much stress and grave inconvenience,” they said.
Through the lawsuit, Ramdatt-Jagdeo was seeking a declaration that she was treated unfairly and contrary to the principles of natural justice.
In determining the case, Justice Donaldson-Honeywell ordered that Ramdatt-Jagdeo be allowed to take up duties at the school on January 2 next year. She also ordered that the ministry continue to pay Ramdatt-Jagdeo her salary and benefits as a school principal.
The TSC and the ministry were also ordered to pay her legal costs for pursuing the case.
Ramdatt-Jagdeo was represented by Anand Ramlogan, SC, Jayanti Lutchmedial, Kent Samlal, Natasha Bisram, Vishaal Siewsaran and Jared Jagroo.