Dear Editor,
Well it is correct when one engages in strike action one cannot be engaging in work/job related matters or activities at the same time. Wasn’t this made clear before embarking on strike action? This would be a glaring conflict of interest and would create problems. One cannot be half in and half out at the same time. It is for this reason the principle of salary deductions apply. I wondered how the strike will affect the Mash activities in schools, particularly the children’s competitions.
With regards to the controversy creating a raging furore beating through the land over the disqualification of a young entrant in the children’s calypso competition (two entries were disqualified), the furore is misplaced and misguided. The explanation offered by the MoE through its Allied Arts Unit details and explains why the child’s entry was found to be unsuitable for a children’s competition, among which, competition rules were breached. Maybe the entry might have been better suited for the junior calypso competition and if the entrant could not enter in that competition because of age, then it was for that reason the entry must be disqualified.
Children must be children. The same analogy can be used with the strikers on the picket line. The strikers feel rules were broken in their employment and through their union disqualified the government from their services, now in its ninth day. It is prudent to mention no furore (at least none I have seen) over the other entry’s disqualification in the calypso competition.
Sincerely,
Shamshun Mohamed
