Dr Mark Smith - FILE PHOTO
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JTA President Dr Mark Smith
President of the Jamaica Teachers Association, Dr. Mark Smith has continued his criticism of the Jamaica Teaching Council Bill, highlighting what he says is the potential lopsided representation on the Jamaica Teaching council as outlined in the bill and the potential for breaches of teachers' constitutional rights.
The bill aims to regulate and establish professional standards for teaching, but with the JTA being able to nominate six members of the proposed 31 member Council, he believes this might be detrimental to the interests of members of the teaching profession.
"We are concerne that there might be some very overt attempts, at some point... We might have a time when some political leader comes to office and stacks this Council with political appointees," he said on Monday's edition of Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines.
To limit that possibility, he said teachers "need to be given more agency over their Council which will seek to professionalise the very job that they hold."
He argued further that the authority that will be given to the Teaching Council to revoke or suspend a teacher's license, without due process, is a violation of their constitutional rights, having the authority to suspend or revoke someone's licence.
Noting that, upon receiving an accussation against a teacher, the Council would be empowered to suspend the licence of the accused teacher while the investigation is being conducted.
"We believe that that is a dangerous invasion of one's constitutional rights," he declared.
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