JTA urges teachers to give early notice of intention to resign

 

Amid jitters in the education sector about the exodus of teachers from the classroom, the Jamaica Teachers' Association has joined the Education Ministry in encouraging educators who are planning to resign, to give an early indication to their administrators.

 

School administrators say they are facing a near crisis ahead of the start of the new academic year due to last minute resignations by teachers who have decided to migrate.

 

JTA President Leighton Johnson told Radio Jamaica News that the Association shares the concerns of the administrators. 

 

"Principals are indicating that they are having a difficult time in filling these vacancies. This is a real phenomenon. This is a real situation that currently exists. And we always implore teachers, you know, that if they have intentions of leaving, then it is always in good taste to give some indication and allow the administrators the latitude to plan, you know, going forward." 

 

Mr. Johnson said the JTA conducted a recent survey on the number of vacancies in schools and the data is concerning.

 

"In terms of a survey that was done with 102 schools, 71% of those schools have indicated that they are still unable to fill vacancies in their school. Only 28% of the respondents indicated that they have satisfactorily filled all the vacancies while another 71% indicate that there is still teacher shortage, there are critical vacancies that are unfilled," he said, adding that in many instances, schools are unable to fill vacancies of between two and five teachers.   

 

The JTA president predicts that the number of teachers leaving the classroom will increase in the coming months as the educators believe they will be better compensated overseas.

 

According to Mr. Johnson, teachers who have migrated have also been encouraging their counterparts to follow suit.

 

"Teachers want to be in a position to be able to comfortably accommodate their families and purchase homes. Once this facility is given to them, once the opportunity is presented to them, teachers will go. And as I indicated, the recruiters are here. They are vigilant. They are in our space," he warned. 

 

The Ministry of Education reported on August 16, that 427 teachers resigned from the local education sector since January this year, compared with 1,538 teachers who resigned between January and September last year. Minister Fayval Williams has promised to provide more updated figures in short order.