Damion Crawford | Standing with our teachers while standing together for our children

Today, as we celebrate World Teachers’ Day under the theme, ‘Standing with teachers: 60 years of protecting the profession, advancing its status and shaping our futures’, I want us to focus on one particular phrase: “standing with teachers”.

Over the last few weeks, I have become increasingly conscious of a striking reality. While I can remember multiple occasions throughout my life when I was taught the words of our National Anthem, I cannot remember ever being taught to truly contemplate its meaning.

Reflecting on today’s theme brought that realisation sharply back into focus. My message today therefore focuses, firstly, on our anthem and what it demands of us in our duty to our educators and, secondly, on the word “with” and what it means for our society.

Our National Anthem is unique because it is not merely a song; it is a profound national prayer. But how often do we stop to consider what we are actually praying for?

To understand some of the anthem’s deepest ideas, I believe we must consider its Christian, and therefore biblical, foundations. The anthem states, “Give us vision lest we perish”. In the Bible, the Prophet Joel, echoed in the Book of Acts, declares that the old men shall dream dreams and the young men shall see visions.

It suggests to me, therefore, that when our anthem cries, “Give us vision lest we perish”, there is within that prayer another national imperative to develop our youth, lest we perish.

Our forefathers understood that the future of Jamaica must ultimately reside in the minds, character, imagination, motivation and capabilities of our youth, who naturally aspire for more, both individually and collectively. They seem to have recognised that without young people equipped with knowledge, wisdom, foresight and moral direction, national decline becomes inevitable.

How important, therefore, must be our teachers, who are entrusted with helping to develop and prepare those young minds? How essential are those at the forefront of shaping their character?

Our anthem speaks directly to the preparation of which I speak by asking further for wisdom and knowledge. In our anthem, we pray for true wisdom to be granted and later for knowledge to be sent. While knowledge gives us the understanding through which we comprehend ourselves, others and the world around us, wisdom provides the discernment necessary to understand truth and apply that knowledge properly.

Long may we therefore revere our teachers, who are entrusted with transmitting knowledge and cultivating the capacity for wisdom. Our teachers do far more than read from textbooks. They help transform information into understanding, deepen that understanding into knowledge, and help our young people develop the wisdom to apply that knowledge.

They take mathematics, language, science, history, culture and the accumulated knowledge of generations and make them accessible to our youth, preparing them first for independence and later for interdependence, which I consider the ultimate state of human existence. They prepare the environment in which knowledge can grow, wisdom can develop, character can take root and, ultimately, vision can emerge, progress can be reaped and perish averted.

That makes teaching not simply another occupation, but one of the indispensable pillars upon which the future of Jamaica relies.

PARTNERSHIP AND SOLIDARITY

More directly, as I contemplated the theme for this World Teachers’ Day, I found myself thinking about the immense importance of words, even simple words such as “with”.

Here, I concluded that there is a profound difference between standing for teachers and standing with teachers. To stand for someone often means acting on their behalf. It can even imply standing against someone or something else. However, to stand with someone means something very different. Standing with implies partnership and solidarity. It suggests sharing the burden in pursuit of a shared objective. It denotes working together.

Indeed, given all the challenges facing our teachers and schools, including shortages and resource constraints, workload, compensation and difficult working environments, one could easily understand if the international theme had been “standing for teachers”. Indeed, I can even imagine the great political value that could be derived from such wording.

Yet I am particularly pleased that, at a time such as this, the global community chose the word “with”. I am pleased because our teachers cannot accomplish this national mission of developing educated, well-adjusted, motivated and safe children alone.

If the objective is to develop young Jamaicans capable of carrying the knowledge, wisdom and vision necessary for our country’s future, then every Jamaican has a role to play, whether inside or outside the classroom.

Students must stand with their teachers by coming prepared to learn, respecting the boundaries of the classroom and valuing the knowledge and guidance being invested in them. Complete your assignments. Be present. Be punctual. Be ready to learn.

Parents must stand with teachers by reinforcing discipline and learning at home. Help with homework. Be mindful of your child’s nutrition. Promote a culture of learning within the home. Take a keen interest in your child’s academic performance and join us in fighting the albatross of chronic absenteeism. We must stop approaching schools as battlegrounds whenever difficulties arise and instead recognise teachers as essential partners in the development of our children.

School administrators must stand with teachers by protecting their well-being, reducing unnecessary bureaucracy and creating safe, respectful and supportive working environments. As far as possible, allow teachers to focus their time and energies on their principal responsibility of teaching.

Communities must stand with teachers by wrapping our schools in a protective embrace. Support school initiatives, protect educators from violence and intimidation, volunteer where possible, and help restore the social standing that this profession deserves.

Public policymakers must also stand with teachers in ways that go beyond speeches and annual celebrations. The Government must commit itself to the task of building a better education system, and the Opposition must commit itself to being truthful, responsible and honest in its critique.

HELPING TEACHERS SUCCESSFULLY ACHIEVE THEIR MANDATE

Standing with teachers must be reflected in competitive compensation, properly resourced classrooms, safe working environments and opportunities for professional development and advancement. It must be reflected in the respect, professional autonomy and national status afforded to those whom we entrust with preparing the next generation.

Importantly, it must also be reflected in an education system that increases the probability of our teachers successfully achieving their mandate: developing adequately educated young people who are able to demonstrate their competence through appropriate assessments and examinations, but also through the lives they go on to lead.

I say to my fellow Jamaicans: our teachers cannot carry this heavy and sacred responsibility alone. If we merely stand for teachers, we risk leaving them isolated at the front of classrooms, carrying shortages, social pressures and systemic burdens on their shoulders.

We must instead stand with them: in respect, in our homes, in our communities, in our ministries and in our Parliament. We must stand with them through the resources, compensation and professional recognition that demonstrate, not merely declare, the value we place on their work, their worth and their role in shaping our society.

Today, as we wish our educators a happy World Teachers’ Day, let us make them a simple but meaningful commitment: not only to protecting the profession and advancing its status, but to recognising and supporting the indispensable role of our teachers in shaping our future.

Let us stand with our teachers, as together we stand for our children.

- Damion O. Crawford, MP, is the Opposition Spokesperson on Education and Early Childhood Development. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com. ONLINE ONLY COMMENTARY.