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Education Ministry bracing for more teacher protests

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Mark Malabver, Principal of Yallahs High School in St. Thomas
By Kimone Witter/Clinton McGregor 
 
The Ministry of Education is bracing for an escalation of the protest action by the island's public sector teachers who are up in arms regarding the offer from the government under the wage restructuring programme.
 
The industrial action started on Friday, with teachers at St. Elizabeth Technical High School staging a sit-in.
 
Six other schools in the parish also staged protests on Monday, with the action expanding to other parishes.
 
Radio Jamaica News correspondents reported that scores of teachers at schools in St. James, St. Elizabeth, St. Catherine, St. Thomas, Clarendon and Manchester joined their colleagues in wearing black and staging sit-ins.
 
Some teachers also called in sick.
 
Phillip Pinnock, a teacher at Jose Marti Technical High School in Spanish Town, St. Catherine, made it clear that the protest was not an initiative of the Jamaica Teachers' Association. But he said teachers are tired of their pay moving horizontally and want to be moved to a higher salary band. 
 
Eighty per cent of teachers called in sick at Garvey Maceo High School in Clarendon while a majority of teachers at Kellits High School, also in Clarendon, did not turn up for work. 
 
JTA President La Sonja Harrison declined to comment on the protest action.
 
But speaking on Radio Jamaica's Teacher's Time on Sunday, Mrs Harrison  said a decision on the government's offer will be delivered on March 8 when teacher delegates will vote.
 
Mark Malabver, Principal of Yallahs High School in St. Thomas, said there was no widespread industrial action taken by teachers at his school.
 
He said a number of teachers wore black in solidarity with the protests but the majority of his teachers turned up for work and reported to their regular classes. 
 
While there was not much industrial action, Mr. Malabver said there is a tense calm among the educators. 


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