Greetings Esteemed Members,
I extend warm greetings to each of you and take this opportunity on behalf of our Council of Management, to extend Season’s Greetings to you and your families. May this season bring you joy and peace as you celebrate the wonderful birth of our Lord and Saviour. 

I also take this opportunity to extend congratulations to the Public Relations Committee for reviving our Newsletter through which we can share information with you our valued membership. 

Colleagues, it has been a difficult year for us and for our students. I am sure that we all would have wished we could be in the classroom with our students however, the pandemic had other plans for us. The sudden change from being in the
classroom to engaging our students via distance learning or virtually has taken a tremendous toll on us. You all found
yourselves having to be extra creative, having to learn how to use the various platforms and adjusting to, at times, doing
packages plus online sessions. Through it all, most of you gave your best and ensured students were actively engaged in learning. I applaud all of you for your true commitment to your profession and to your students. To those teachers who still do not abide by your responsibilities, I can only hope that you will make the necessary changes and carry out your responsibilities to the best of your abilities. 

As we begin a new two year term, it is my hope that as a union, we will be able to provide more benefits to you, our members, through the various projects that we will undertake. I will continue to ensure that we provide as many training opportunities as we can to assist you in gaining your necessary CPD hours. It will be left up to you to take advantage of the opportunities provided. I will also continue to ensure that our various Committees are functioning and engage you in meaningful activities and opportunities. Our Women’s Committee, our Youth Arm Committee, our Education Committee and our Public Relations Committee all have an important role in engaging you in activities and providing you with timely information via this medium. I am confident that they will all do their part to keep unionism alive and our members engaged. 

I assure you, our valued members, that I will continue to represent your best interest and that our team will continue to liaise with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders to address your issues and identify solutions to ensure a better education system for all. We expect to be finalizing some discussions with the Ministry soon after which we will begin to do some revision of the Education Rules. It is imperative that you begin to review the Rules and identify areas that need amendment as well as areas that might need to be included. You will have an opportunity to provide feedback so please be sure to participate fully. 

Members, your union has made several significant strides and we can make much more. All we ask of you is that you support your leaders as they represent you, you participate fully when given opportunities and you provide meaningful and realistic suggestions to help the Union to succeed. Together, we can do much more for each other. Let’s join hands and make it easier for all of us to benefit from our unity. Let us embrace the true meaning of solidarity as united we stand and divided we will all fall. 

Please continue to be safe and do enjoy your Christmas vacation. May Christ bless each of you and keep you and your families safe. May 2022 bring much blessings and success as we continue our journey as the most important profession. 

I leave you with the following quotes: 

“The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done.” 

(Jean Piaget) 

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” 

(Winston Churchill)

 “Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don’t.”

 (Peter Seeger) 

Long live BNTU! Solidarity forever! 

In unionism,