Students returned to classes Tuesday a day after their parents kept them from the Inagua All-Age School Monday in protest of teacher shortages at the school.

School Principal Glen Lightbourne confirmed yesterday that there was near full attendance on Tuesday.
“We had about 94 per cent of our students present at school [yesterday]; on Monday there was about 50 per cent attendance,” Mr. Lightbourne told The Bahama Journal.
The students returned to school even though teacher-shortage issues continue, but parents and school officials have been given assurances from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology that three additional teachers will be arriving at the school.
“Those spots will be filled within another week or two the most,” Joel Lewis, superintendent of the MICAL school district told The Journal Tuesday.
“We have identified the people [teachers] we have the name of people and now we are just waiting for financial clearance before posting those teachers.”
There are currently just over 200 students enrolled at the Inagua All-Age School.
Mr. Lewis said that the three additional teachers include two primary school teachers and a science teacher.
The Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT), though sympathetic to the concerns raised by the parents, has maintained that Monday’s action was entirely orchestrated by the parents and it noted that at no time did teachers ever withdraw their services from the school.
“I brought the problems to the attention of the Ministry of Education at the beginning of the school year,” said Belinda Wilson, BUT president as she commented on the situation in Inagua Monday.

“At the time, they [ministry officials] said that they were doing their best to have the teachers sent to Inagua, however, it seems as though the communication between the ministry and the teachers at Inagua All-Age is not very clear.”