Teacher ‘crisis’

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE JAMAICA Teachers’ Association [JTA] says it is not surprised at the Ministry of Education and Youth’s disclosure yesterday that 854 teachers have resigned from Jamaica’s public sector since the start of the year.

This is twice the number reported up to August 16.

Speaking to The Gleaner yesterday following the announcement from education minister Fayval Williams, JTA president Leighton Johnson said the nation’s teachers continue to scramble for opportunities to create a better life for themselves and their families, leading them to accept numerous job offers from overseas recruiters.

“The writings have been on the wall for some time. As an administrator myself, I had my ears to the ground, and principals have been indicating, as well as teachers, that the number of teachers who have intentions to resign was significantly more than what the minister [Williams] was pronouncing,” said Johnson.

“We are currently in a crisis, and we, basically, knew that it would have come down to this,” he added.

“The fact is that teachers have been enticed by the offers made by our overseas counterparts, and the job offers they are receiving are offers that Jamaica cannot compete with, and teachers are grabbing hold of these opportunities. The opportunities are also being presented for teachers to move with their families within a short space of time, or even immediately, and the moment you go up to accept a contract there, you are able to move with your families,” Johnson shared.

During a post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday, Williams noted that her ministry received a significant number of teacher resignations after the month’s pay cycle ended on Friday, August 25.

It remains to be seen whether the current number of teacher resignations, which is being monitored for the January to September period, will remain lower than the 1,538 teachers who resigned from the local teaching profession over the same period in 2022.

Since 2020, there have been concerns that the issue of teachers migrating overseas will deprive Jamaica’s school system of talented educators, with salaries and benefits being a frequently cited reason for their departure.

The issue was also a sticking point during the recently concluded annual JTA conference, where it was indicated that action will be taken if educators’ concerns about payment of retroactive salaries or payment recalculations are not satisfactorily addressed by the end of September.

In the meantime, Johnson acknowledged that there have been instances where teachers tender their resignations contrary to Section 54 of the Education Regulations of 1980.

The regulation requires teachers who are permanent in the system to give three months’ notice and for those who hold temporary, acting, or provisional positions to give one month’s notice.

“The JTA notes the fact that many persons would not have tendered their resignations within a timely fashion, and, of course, there is a stipulation within the code of regulation. We will continue to urge our teachers, our members, to adhere to these stipulations and the code outlining how it is they are to resign from their position and the timeline they are to give,” said Johnson.

“Nevertheless, notwithstanding that fact, teachers believe that if our country was in a position where it improved the compensation to teachers, many of them would have remained here and they would have been willing to go back into the classroom here. But the fact is that in getting the offers that will pay bigger and better, allowing teachers to realise their dreams and their aspirations, and being able to take care of their families, then our teachers have opted to go,” Johnson admitted.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com