The Editor,
Sir:
Please permit me to comment on the fact that the minister of education is considering the idea of sourcing mathematics teachers from outside Jamaica.
I believe that his ministry has failed to first look among his local talent to find what the Jamaican education system requires. There are local people available but efforts need to be placed on creating a database of the skills and talents that are available. I am yet to see a system available to identify skilled teachers.
There should be a system in place to guide the minister in the right direction. The ministry should be able to identify, by region, from its database, the following - all its master teachers, all teachers holding degrees, all the skilled subject teachers and all budding principals.
With a database of this kind, the ministry would be able to find all its skills at a glance. Let me not believe the minister has lost faith in his own. Jamaican teachers are in demand all over the world, and here we are considering importing skills. The other countries that have been accepting our teachers have seen the extraordinary skills the ministry is ignoring.
Teachers have all reason to be upset with the remark and I am happy that being the disciplined educators they are, they are willing to press on with the wonderful work they are doing.
The question to you, Mr Minister, is: what are you looking for in the teachers who, in your opinion, are lacking? Sir, I believe you owe this to the nation's teachers.
I am, etc.,
Devon King
Kingston 19