Click to view full size

The pres­i­dent of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Uni­fied Teach­ers’ As­so­ci­a­tion (TTUTA) is ex­press­ing scep­ti­cism over Prime Min­is­ter Stu­art Young’s cam­paign pledge to re­move Val­ue Added Tax (VAT) from school uni­forms if re-elect­ed.

Dur­ing an in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Mar­tin Lum Kin not­ed that while the tax re­lief may of­fer some fi­nan­cial ease to par­ents, it does not ad­dress the press­ing and sys­temic is­sues plagu­ing the ed­u­ca­tion sec­tor.

“TTUTA is not im­pressed with the lat­est promise by the ho­n­ourable Prime Min­is­ter, Stu­art Young. The re­moval of VAT on school uni­forms will present a small sav­ings to our par­ents but there are more press­ing is­sues with­in the ed­u­ca­tion sys­tem which the ho­n­ourable Prime Min­is­ter will well be aware of.”