President Anthony Carmona needs to have more dialogue with members of independent bodies whom he appoints.
In an address on Friday to teachers of the North Eastern Education District on the topic ‘Teachers, the President and Social Justice,’ Prof Emeritus Ramesh Deosaran said it was Carmona who appoints members of the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) and he should share in some responsibility over issues now plaguing it.
Deosaran, a former member of the TSC and former chairman of the Police Service Commission (PSC), said the TSC could no longer do its job efficiently and with fairness to teachers.
Deosaran said, “As a part-time body to appoint, promote, discipline and transfer over 14,000 teachers, the Teaching Service Commission, even delegating authority, can no longer do the job efficiently and with fairness to teachers.”
He said there was too much bureaucracy, too many delays in appointments, filling vacancies and treating with teacher indiscipline.
These were issues which he said have been happening for years.
However, he said the President should meet with TSC members, hear the challenges, and pass them over to the Prime Minister for policy action.
“These are the kinds of officials he should be seeing. He appointed them,” Deosaran said.
He added that the TSC was another “congested independent body” that was left alone “to perpetuate its well-known inefficiencies, all to the detriment of the teaching profession, in particular.”
Deosaran said, “The President should no longer appoint members of service commissions with powerful constitutional mandates, especially the TSC, and then leave things so. He applies his own discretion, notwithstanding any advice from the Prime Minister or Opposition Leader.
To help improve things, he must ensure that the functions of the commission match the qualifications and experience of the commissioners he appoints.”
Carmona appoints members to the TSC, PSC, Public Service Commission, and the Judicial and Legal Service Commission.