Deal or no deal

The government has made an improved offer on key components of the 28-point claim from the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), which will be placed before delegates for a decision early this week.

Mark Malabver, president of the JTA, told The Gleaner that the government has responded to what he termed “some deal breakers”, and the delegates will decide on them at the association’s 62nd annual conference, which begins in Kingston today.

For about a year, the government and the teachers’ union have been engaged in wage negotiations, but no significant progress has been made.

“There were some key components – some deal breakers – and we put that squarely to the government and the government has responded to some of those deal breakers,” he said.

At the same time, Malabver said the perennial problem of teacher migration is once again creating concerns a little more than two weeks before the official start of the new academic year.

He told The Gleaner that a number of schools are advertising, and teachers who had applied to work overseas are now receiving confirmation from recruiters and have submitted their resignations as they prepare to go abroad.

Linked to low compensation

The JTA boss noted that the migration of teachers was directly linked to some of the claims the union served on the government that are yet to be meaningfully addressed.

He said Jamaica is the only country in the Caribbean that has a major issue with teacher migration.

Malabver argued that this stems from the low compensation package for public-sector teachers locally.

“The government continues to be tone deaf to these concerns and, in the near future, I am predicting that a major crisis will come on our hands and we are going to have to now force and treat with it as it relates to teacher migration,” he said.

Noting that teacher migration is expected to get worse, Malabver said “unfortunately, the government seems not to see beyond their noses with respect to the issue of teacher migration and the negative impact that it has been having and continues to have on the education system”.

He warned that every target that the government has set in relation to student outcomes is going to be missed until the issues that give rise to teacher migration are properly addressed.

The JTA head pointed out that some of the country’s best teachers continue to leave the island. He said the wealth of experience and professionalism gained in the classrooms over many years could not be effectively replaced by teachers just entering the classrooms from college.

“Let’s be brutally frank, a teacher coming out of teachers’ college in no way can replace a teacher that has had five, 10 and 15 years under their belt in terms of on-the-job experience, in terms of professional development and mentoring,” he said.

He said many Jamaican teachers are not just migrating to the United States but also the United Kingdom (UK).

“What you are finding, especially in the UK, is that teachers are being incentivised to recruit teachers from Jamaica,” he added.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com