As education staff across Trinidad and Tobago returned to campus on Monday to prepare for the September 7 reopening of the 2026–2027 academic year, the country’s largest teachers’ representative body, the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association (TTUTA), has sounded the alarm over a cascade of unresolved issues that threaten to derail a smooth start to the term — starting with severely delayed distribution of critical book grants.
TTUTA president Crystal Ashley did not mince words when criticizing the government’s handling of the book grant program Monday, noting that the rollout of the assistance only kicked off this week, leaving families scrambling to cover school costs ahead of the new term. The delayed distribution is already placing unnecessary financial and logistical strain on households across the country, she warned. Ashley also pushed back against the administration’s decision to task school supervisors with collecting and distributing book grant cheques, arguing that this responsibility is not outlined in the Education Act as part of supervisors’ official job duties.
Over Monday and Tuesday, TTUTA national leadership deployed teams to schools across the country to meet with frontline educators and conduct on-the-ground assessments of campus readiness. In addition to the book grant delays, Ashley outlined a series of long-standing unaddressed issues that TTUTA is demanding the Ministry of Education resolve urgently to avoid disruptions when students return.
One key point of contention is the slow rollout of the government’s annual Vacation Repair Programme. Ashley said critical maintenance work only got underway in August, leaving school facilities with barely four weeks to complete repairs and upgrades before students arrive — a timeline that is far too tight to ensure work is finished properly on time.
The union has also raised fierce objections to the Ministry’s decision not to renew employment contracts for three critical groups of school support staff: social workers, guidance counsellors, and business operations assistants. Ashley emphasized that these staff members deliver irreplaceable, life-changing support to both students and school administrations, and leaving these roles vacant will undermine student well-being and campus operations.
Worsening campus readiness issues, Ashley added, are ongoing furniture shortages at multiple schools across the nation. TTUTA is calling on the Ministry to move quickly to replenish stock before the first day of classes.
Beyond pre-term preparation concerns, TTUTA is renewing long-standing demands around overdue pay. Ashley reiterated the union’s call for the Ministry to finally disburse salary arrears owed to Teaching Service members for the 2020 to 2023 period, and demanded the Ministry publish a clear, binding timeline for when the outstanding funds will be released to educators.
Ashley also raised alarms over millions of dollars in unpaid fees owed to maxi-taxi concessionaires that provide transportation services for students, calling on the government to honor its contractual agreements and disburse the outstanding payments immediately.
Ashley emphasized that none of these issues are new, and argued that recurring last-minute problems ahead of school reopenings should not be treated as an unavoidable norm in Trinidad and Tobago’s education system. She called for systemic improvements: more robust advance planning and inter-agency coordination for future school reopenings, timely completion of annual facility repairs, prompt filling of all critical vacant positions, and consistent investment in adequate furniture and learning resources for all campuses.
Specifically, Ashley pushed for policy changes to ensure book grants are processed and distributed months ahead of the new term to actually deliver on their goal of easing financial burdens for families, and repeated the demand for a transparent timeline for outstanding salary arrears for educators.
“The reopening of schools should be about more than simply opening the school gates,” Ashley said. “Students and educators deserve schools that are properly staffed, adequately resourced, safe and ready for teaching and learning.”
While TTUTA remains fully committed to collaborating with the Ministry of Education to resolve these concerns, Ashley stressed that meaningful collaboration requires tangible action, clear accountability, and a sense of urgency from government officials. As of press time, multiple attempts to reach Education Minister Dr Michael Dowlath for comment on TTUTA’s concerns have been unsuccessful.