Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

Hopeton Henry, president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, said the Education Ministry promised that the loan fund would be ready by month-end. - File

The Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), on Monday, expressed its dissatisfaction because the $500-million revolving loan fund for teachers is yet to come to fruition and has threatened serious action if nothing is done soon.

"The JTA is very upset about the issue. The teachers are very angry, and the JTA is going to treat the matter seriously," Hopeton Henry, head of the JTA told The Gleaner.

In 2005, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson announced at the People's National Party annual conference that the Government would be implementing a $500-million revolving loan fund to upgrade the island's roughly 17,000 teachers who are without a first degree. This was in keeping with a recommendation made by the Task Force on Education report.

Mr. Henry said the Government needed to speed up the implementation of the fund, if it is serious about transforming the education system.

Anxious teachers

The JTA president said the regional offices of the association have been flooded with calls and visits from anxious teachers who have either started programmes or are awaiting the loan to further their studies.

More than 100 teachers were deregistered from institutions last year because of a failure to pay tuition fees. The Gleaner was told that the educators had started programmes because they thought the revolving loan fund would have been ready.

Mr. Henry pointed out that other civil servants are currently enjoying a revolving loan fund, although the JTA had proposed a loan fund before the Civil Service Association.

The JTA president told The Gleaner that he was promised by the Ministry of Education and Youth, that the loan fund would have been taken to Cabinet, Monday, and would be ready by this month.

"The deadline keeps shifting and I don't see it going through until February," he said.

Contacted Monday, Maxine Henry-Wilson, Minister of Education and Youth, said the document was before a Cabinet sub-committee and would be taken to Cabinet before the end of the month.