Why Baptist preacher Shuttleworth wants Jamaican teachers to reconsider migrating
Published:Sunday | August 21, 2022 | 7:17 PM
Jamaican teachers should reconsider taking up higher-paying jobs overseas to prevent pro-LGBTQ foreign educators entering local classrooms, Pastor at the Tarrant Baptist Church, Jeffrey Shuttleworth, argued in a sermon on Sunday.
“Our children need to know that a boy cannot be a girl, and a girl cannot be a boy,” he said at the service in St Andrew which marked the opening of the annual conference of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA).
“Our children must know that there are only two genders, male and female. Our children must know that a man can't marry a man! A woman can't marry a woman! Our children must know. Foreigners will not tell them that. Online software and tutorials will not tell them that," he said to sustained cheers from congregants of the church, which also operates TBC Radio.
The JTA hierarchy, led by outgoing president Winston Smith and incoming leader La Sonja Harrison, along with Education Minister Fayval Williams and other senior figures from the ministry were in attendance.
With just two weeks before the new school year starts, the education sector has been gripped by the crisis of teachers, reportedly over 400, migrating to take up lucrative job offers. Administrators have expressed concerns over whether they will be able to cover students when they return to school.
Shuttleworth, known for his fiery conservative Christian preaching, argued that there were other important reasons why teachers should stay in Jamaica despite the economic push factors.
He fears that foreign assistance masks support for pro-LGBTQ policies. He has also frowned on online education, noting that those systems will not provide a culturally-relevant education.
"It does not matter how bad things are economically, in any society... once we put our trust in Him and allow him to lead us, He will make a way," he said. "You do not have to run away... we cannot allow others who are not cultured in our way of life to come and teach our children."
Referencing the words of the National Pledge, the pastor said: "If you remain in Jamaica, you will stand for righteousness and inculcate Godly values in children so that Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity and play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race."
The Opposition People's National Party has accused the education minister of not responding aggressively to the migration crisis.
Former senator Wensworth Skeffery has called for Williams to be sacked while spokesman on education, Senator Damion Crawford has claimed that the government's approach to the issue has been "disrespectful".
"Because somehow we believe that experience is not important and [there] is an assumption that [it] is easy and everybody can do it. It is underappreciated. If you have the vast majority of our people within our circumstance, that have the expertise and the ability to teach our other people, then you have to be very concern when they are leaving for greater opportunity," Crawford said Sunday.
Williams said the exodus of teachers is in line with global standards and that there is nothing to be alarmed about.
She said a number of different strategies are being communicated to principals of how to replace teachers in coming days to make them ready for the start of school in September.
“We always want to retain our teachers, but sometimes they have to make personal decisions about their future. Our job is to continue to ensure that we have adequate teachers in the system and we know that at this time of the year, there's quite a bit of movement among our teachers,” Williams told The Gleaner following today's service.
She added: “Again, I say we have to keep our focus and to ensure that we have adequate resources in terms of helping our schools to find those teachers who are graduating from our teachers colleges and to ensure that they come in the classroom and that they're provided with the necessary support that they will need in the classrooms."
Approximately 25, 074 teachers were employed by the government in 2021, according to the 2021 Economic and Social Survey published in June.
- Ainsworth Morris
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