Speid: COVID saved Ja from mass teacher migration

WESTERN BUREAU:

Immediate past president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Owen Speid, believes the crippling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic – including closed borders and economic uncertainty – have helped the local education sector, preventing educators from seeking or taking up employment overseas.

“It was only COVID-19 that saved Jamaica from mass migration. Just before COVID-19, we had close to 500 teachers migrating from Jamaican shores, and if it were not for COVID-19, I can tell you that maybe thousands more would have left by now,” the sharp-tongued Speid said yesterday, while addressing the annual general meeting of the St James Chapter of the JTA.

“Day after day, teachers are being recruited by overseas recruiting agencies. The agencies come to Jamaica because whenever they recruit teachers from Jamaica, they see their results going up, and it is not going to stop,” added Speid.

Long-standing issue

Teacher migration has been a long-standing issue for Jamaica’s education sector as issues such a low salaries and lack of proper support systems bedevil teachers, driving them to frustration with many leaving the local school system in droves for primarily England and the United States.

In 2016, the phenomenon was identified as a major reason for the low mathematics scores in that year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.

On the subject of wage negotiations, Speid told the online meeting that teachers must reject the Ministry of Finance’s offer of a 2.5 per cent salary increase for teachers, which was made in January.

“We have a mountain to climb in terms of the salary negotiation as a 2.5 per cent increase is not going to cut it. We made it clear to them that we have had promises made to us over the years, and the compensation review that they are promising to do by 2022, we are not sure that it will be done,” said Speid.

“We cannot take the promises and say we are going to accept any 2.5 per cent increase. We will have to look at what the dollar is doing, and look at oil prices, because inflation is real, and it is worse than what people in many quarters are willing to report,” added Speid.

Last August, JTA President Jasford Gabriel lamented that the last wage offer which teachers had accepted – a 16 per cent increase over the 2017-2021 period – had in fact left educators worse off because of the rate of inflation since 2017.

editorial@gleanerjm.com