ABOUT 30 teachers who were given notices in December terminating their jobs in the island's school system have been instructed by the Jamaica Teachers' Association to report for work when school re-opens next week.
Last night, the Ministry of Education said it was sending out letters to the board chairmen of the affected schools, advising them how to deal with the teachers who dispute their termination. But it failed to say whether it had approved of the teachers restarting their jobs without all the disputed terminations being fully reviewed as instructed by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.
The JTA, which represents about 20,000 teachers, said in a news release on Wednesday that it would be good industrial relations practice for the teachers to remain on the job while efforts were being made to resolve the dispute over their termination.
"If the thing is being considered, then the person can't be out of the job," Dr. Adolph Cameron, new general secretary of the JTA, told The Gleaner yesterday. "We are therefore instructing our members to go back to school -- the ones who have been given termination notices -- when school re-opens.
