More teacher resignations to come this term – JTA president

WESTERN BUREAU:

JAMAICA TEACHERS’ Association (JTA) President Leighton Johnson is certain that more educators will submit their resignations during the present school term, which began on Monday. His prediction follows the Ministry of Education’s recent revelation that 854 teachers have left the local education system as at the end of August.

Speaking with The Gleaner on Tuesday, Johnson noted that following Monday’s first day of the 2023-24 academic year, school administrators have so far reported the departure of teachers in several crucial subject areas such as language arts and the sciences.

“We are still assessing the impact of this issue or how chronic this situation is, but what I can indicate is that there are schools right across Jamaica that started yesterday [Monday] with vacancies unfilled. There are schools that need language and science teachers, and there are schools in desperate need of teachers in technical and vocational areas, electrical installation teachers, metalwork teachers, building construction teachers, and plumbing teachers,” Johnson outlined.

“What principals have indicated is that there are some teachers who have already indicated to them their intention of resigning later down in the term. We know that the recruiters are still here, they are still providing opportunities for teachers, and again, the global teacher shortage is what is basically fuelling our teachers leaving,” Johnson added.

“These recruiters from all jurisdictions, North America, Europe, some in Asia, and even other Caribbean countries, are individuals who are still here trying to get teachers to fill their classrooms,” the JTA president continued. “The bottom line is that we will continue to see teacher resignations for a little while until it settles out.”

The shortage of teachers for specific subject areas previously came up as a cause for alarm during last month’s staging of the JTA’s annual conference, where a call was made for teachers to seek training in specialist areas.

That call was issued due to concerns about shortages of teachers for technical and vocational subjects, resulting from educators migrating overseas for better-paying jobs.

At a post-Cabinet press briefing on August 30, Education Minister Fayval Williams noted that the 854 teachers who resigned up to that point numbered less than the 1,538 teachers who resigned from the local teaching profession between January and September 2022.

However, concerns were raised that some of the teachers who resigned last month had submitted their resignations after the August 25 pay-cycle, breaching Section 54 of the Education Regulations of 1980 which require permanent teachers to give three months’ notice and those in temporary, acting or provisional positions to give one month’s notice.

Speaking to the matter of teachers breaching the Education Regulations, Johnson dismissed the idea that any of those educators might be held legally liable.

“There is no concern about the legal ramifications where that is concerned. The fact is that when a teacher resigns, there is absolutely no way for anybody in the system to police or identify where those teachers have gone; once you have resigned, you have left the system,” said Johnson.

“What we will continue to do is to encourage our teachers to do the right thing, to ensure that, as best as possible, adequate notice is given to their employers, to their schools, as is outlined in the code of regulations.”

In the meantime, the Ministry of Education’s Permanent Secretary Maureen Dwyer told The Gleaner that the data on teachers’ resignations is currently being compiled and that a course of action will be decided on if the number of resignations up to the end of September surpasses the 1,538 recorded for the corresponding period last year.

“We are pulling the data together,” Dwyer stated. “As soon as a decision is taken it will be communicated.”