Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar considers that it is self-evident that the individuals at NASUWT who are running this campaign against senior officials in the Department of Education are doing so in their own, narrow and vindictive interest.

There is no other reasonable explanation for the vituperative way in which the teachers’ union is running this attempted public vilification of some officers, with scant if no regard for the wellbeing of the pupil in question, who is now an adult, her family and the senior officials involved, who, until recently, were themselves members of that union.

The NASUWT continues to ignore that the Royal Gibraltar Police, having all facts at their disposal, have not ‘acted decisively’ in bringing a prosecution, which, the Government once again reminds the teachers’ union, is a hugely important factor which should give any reasonable representative organisation pause for thought.

Instead, the reaction of the NASUWT has once again been to fail to respond reasonably to the Government’s statement calling for objectivity and sensitivity with unnecessary prejudiced brashness, once again using the issue to hit out at managers that the senior leaders of the union have repeatedly voiced their discontent with for reasons apparently arising from earlier disagreements when former union colleagues.

Additionally, the NASUWT should note that when the Guzman report was commissioned, individuals were asked to provide information on the basis that it was a fact-finding exercise. None of those who provided information for that report were ever told that the report would be made public, as it was put to them as an internal report. All the teachers who provided information did so on that basis and had a Union representative from, ironically, NASUWT with them at their request and the relevant teacher had her lawyer present with her as did the family of the pupil, who is now an adult.

However much oil the teachers’ union irresponsibly seeks to insensitively pour on the flames of this matter, the Government and the Department of Education will continue to work through the internal review already announced.

In the long term, that is what is in the best interests of the pupil in question (who is now an adult), the relevant family and all other persons involved in this matter, and, in particular, the community as a whole and the teaching body generally.

ENDS