Audley Shaw (left), minister of finance, presents Doran Dixon (centre), president of the JTA, with a copy of the 2008-10 heads of agreement between the Government of Jamaica and the 22,000-member body. Looking on is Andrew Holness, minister of education. The agreement was signed yesterday at the finance ministry's Heroes Circle offices in Kingston. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

The Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) yesterday inked a new salary-and-fringe-benefit agreement with the Government, which will see teachers' salaries increase to 80 per cent of their counterparts in the private sector.

The new agreement is for the 2008-2010 contract period and will cost the Government $15 billion.

"We are relieved that we have got to this point," Doran Dixon, president of the JTA, said during the signing ceremony.

He added: "We negotiated and got 80 per cent of market and we intend to return in relatively short order to find a way to get to full market because we feel that the teachers deserve nothing but the best."

Teachers will be paid retroactively in three tranches between December and June.

Andrew Holness, minister of education, said he was relieved that the negotiations ended without any dislocation to the education system. He, however, warned that teachers would be held more accountable for students' performance.

In his remarks, Audley Shaw, minister of finance, said increasing teachers' salaries would place a significant burden on the national budget. He, however, noted that the agreement was a step in the right direction towards transforming the education system.

Other benefits:

Book and software allowance

Allowance for teachers resident in remote areas

Duty allowance

Protective-clothing allowance

Transportation allowance