Minister Reid’s proposed code of conduct

THE EDITOR, Sir:

The Minister of Education, Hon Ruel Reid, recently announced his intent to develop a code of conduct (with input from opposition parliamentarians) for educators who enter active politics whilst in the employ of the government.

Whereas I agree in principle, we need to be vigilant to guarantee that an educator’s freedoms, as granted by our Constitution’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, are not abridged.Educators are free to criticise policies of any government and to speak on prevailing social, economic, and political issues if such speech does not negatively impact operations of the institution to which they are assigned. Nor should educators be allowed to use social media to make posts that undermine the operations of their home school.Political activism should be perfectly acceptable if it’s done on the educator’s own time and outside her/his classroom and school boundaries. I hope that the minister and others who will deliberate the code of conduct, will avail themselves of persons steeped in constitutional law.

Over the years and under successive governments, there have been repeated instances where the Ministry of Education and site-based school leaders have run afoul of the rights of students, teachers and administrators. There appears to be a disconnect with regard to the interpretation and application of the Education Act within the context of the Constitution.

I trust that the proposed code of conduct for educators is not being driven in response to current educators who have been publicly (social media, etc) critical of the Ministry of Education and other public bodies.Interestingly, Minister Reid has been on a leave of absence from the Ministry of Education as he chases his dream to enter representational politics and obviously believes himself inoculated against his proposed code of conduct. This makes for a lively case study discussion in a school law course at NCEL, Mico, or UWI. Let freedom reign.

Dr Richard Kitson-WaltersSandy Bay, Clarendonk-w@cfl.rr.com