'We can cope' - Whiteman speaks on teacher trek to US

Whiteman

EDUCATION MINISTER, Senator Burchell Whiteman, said his Ministry was not opposed to the recruitment of hundreds of local teachers for posts in New York schools, and that they were "prepared to live with the consequences".

According to Senator Whiteman, "we assured New York City Council-woman Una Clarke that we were not opposed to the efforts to provide for children in the New York area, including many of our own children of Caribbean origin. That is not to say that we are actively encouraging it," he told The Gleaner in an interview last week.

Senator Whiteman said that while the Ministry had not yet received official notification of the number of Jamaican teachers offered jobs in New York, he did not foresee any major human resource problem in the island's schools come next school year, after the recruited teachers migrate in August to begin their two-year stints.

"Until we know what the number is we can't be too precise about the effect on the system. But I'm confident that we will be able to cope with the situation," he said.

Noting that Jamaican teachers were being trained for the world economy, Senator White-man said it was a credit to the quality of local teachers that they were being sought by international recruiters.

"I understand the danger that some of our best will go," he said. However, "I don't think most of our best will go because many of them are committed to their families and their country," the Minister added.

Just over a week ago, a team from the Centre for Recruitment and Professional Development of New York City Public Schools undertook a three-day recruitment drive to select 600 Jamaican teachers to teach in the United States.

And last week, about 50 government officials from the Caribbean, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, along with representatives and experts of international organisations and non-governmental institutions met over four days at Le Meridien Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston to discuss issues surrounding international migration and its positive as well as negative effects.

During the week, participants, including representatives from Jamaica, reviewed such issues as global aspects of migration and human displacement, labour migration and brain drain. The Migration Policy Seminar for the Caribbean Region was organised by the International Migration Policy Programme and the International Organis-ation for Migration.

Back to Lead Stories