RUEL REID, president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), said on Monday that his organisation was alarmed at the pronouncement made by the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) that accreditation of tertiary institutions is not compulsory.
Mr. Reid said the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, does not pay teachers for courses that are not accredited at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) and the University of Technology (UTech), and other offshore institutions. He argues that if accreditation is voluntary and programmes offered by the University of the West Indies (UWI) are all deemed to be acceptable locally, then the same treatment should be applied to all recognised universities, local and foreign.
CLEARING UP THE MATTER
Mr. Reid was speaking against the background of a story published in The Sunday Gleaner, which stated revealed that UWI programmes are not accredited by the UCJ, which is the body responsible for approving the credibility, quality and integrity of tertiary institutions in Jamaica.
But Joe Pereira, deputy principal of the institution, argued that the UWI was established before accreditation came into being. He noted that accreditation of programmes was intended for institutions outside of the UWI.
WAITING FOR EVALUATION
According to Mr. Reid, there are more than 400 teachers waiting to have their qualifications evaluated and for new salary scales to be paid.
"Of course, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture finds this policy very convenient to defer payments in order to manage its budget, which has become very frustrating for many teachers," he said.
The JTA boss noted that in most instances teachers would have spent in excess of $500,000 for many of their programmes and the education system benefits from their new expertise but without the requisite remuneration to them.
- P.F.
