JTA president claims ads for teacher ‘fill-ins’ hint at flood of resignations to come
Published:Saturday | July 22, 2023 | 12:07 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) La Sonja Harrison has labelled as “worrying” the number of teacher vacancies being advertised, which she said is indicative of imminent resignations.
Her concern comes amid Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams’ attempt to allay fears that a teacher migration crisis is looming.
Williams, during a recent post-Cabinet press briefing, stated that there has been a 43 per cent reduction in the number of teachers who resigned this year, compared to the same period last year.
She had also emphasised that “many” of the advertisements for teacher vacancies are to fill positions of teachers on leave.
The minister further outlined that 20 per cent of the advertisements in newspapers were for clear teaching vacancies, and 34 per cent of the positions were for teachers to fill in for four months or eight months, temporary positions, or contract positions.
However, Harrison, speaking with The Gleaner, cautioned that the government should not take comfort in this.
“It is instructive for Jamaica to know, among those, especially those who take eight months’ leave, it is during that period that they seek to sort out themselves. So there is the possibility that some among those persons going on leave will not return, that is a possibility,” she said.
Harrison said more than 400 vacancies have been advertised and that it was very unlikely that all those positions will be filled for the upcoming school year.
“We’ve always had teachers leaving the system over the years. We’ve not seen this flood. And the number of schools, and when you look at the nature of the schools and the number of positions to be filled, it is indicative that there will be a challenge in our filling (of those spaces).”
Around this time last year, 167 teachers had resigned from the public-school system.
At the same time, Harrison lamented the continuous migration of experienced teachers, whose expertise she said cannot be replaced with a newly trained graduate.
“Even if you have 500-plus teachers exiting the teacher training colleges, there is no guarantee that all those teachers will naturally progress to the classrooms. Those teachers are usually in need of some kind of supervision, monitoring, handholding, to help them ease into the system,” she said.
It is an issue that she said the Government’s mitigation strategy of rehiring retired teachers will not sufficiently address.
“How many of them are really interested in returning to a system that they are not getting their pension in a timely manner, and knowing fully well the challenges of the system, I am not quite sure the compensation package being offered is one that is attractive enough to let them return to the system,” she said.
Harrison wants the Government “to solve the matter of the teachers’ compensation”, which she said will dampen their motivation to migrate.
“There is a grouping of foot soldiers, they make up the bulk of the teaching profession - the classroom teacher, that was the group we were holding out for them to receive what we call a livable wage, and those are the people who are leaving in droves.”
She again blasted the Government over outstanding salary issues resulting from the public-sector reclassification and compensation, and told The Gleaner that the JTA is “exploring their options”.