Should schools be closed to allow teachers to attend union meetings?

Dear Editor,
At mid-day on Monday (December 5, 2016) I noticed with much surprise that all the schools in the Corriverton area where I live were being closed for the day. Upon inquiry I was told that the schools were being closed to allow teachers to attend a Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) meeting.
Assuming that what I was told is correct (and I have no reason to doubt it), I am forced, as a very concerned citizen, to question the wisdom and propriety of such a (mal)practice at a time when our schools are performing so badly (as can be gleaned from the national examinations results, especially in Maths and English).
I am by no means ‘anti-union’; indeed as a High School Teacher in New Amsterdam, I used to be the Secretary of the Berbice Branch of what was then known as the AMM (Association of Masters and Mistresses), the equivalent of a union for High School teachers, but we used to keep our meetings in the afternoons or week-ends. I am firmly of the view that the students should not suffer, nor the parents inconvenienced in order to facilitate a Union meeting which can just as easily be held in the afternoon after the normal closure of schools or at week-ends or during school holidays (the Christmas break is just around the corner!)
I plead with our dear teachers and the GTU to please reconsider their modus operandi with a view to not rob the poor students of valuable classroom work, nor impose inconveniences on the hardworking parents.

Sincerely,
Nowrang Persaud