Whiteman shoulders blame - Minister admits effect of 'job cuts' statements

By Garwin Davis, Staff Reporter

OCHO RIOS:

MINISTER OF Education and Culture, Burchell Whiteman, acknowledged yesterday that the mass exodus of some of the island's educators to overseas classrooms could be blamed in part on statements he made last year about impending job cuts in the education system.

He conceded in his address to delegates at the 37th annual Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) conference in Ocho Rios, that many teachers had been left worried about their security of tenure and paved the way for the current migration from the school system.

"If you want truth and reconciliation then yes, my own actions contributed to the movement of teachers," Mr. Whiteman said, in a conciliatory tone that was far removed from some of the heated rhetoric regarding migration that had preceded the conference.

"I am not afraid to acknowledge that some of our teachers leaving for abroad came as a result of some of the programmes of separation that I announced last year."

The Minister said it was equally important to note however that there were global forces at work, which militate against teachers committing to a small country with resources which are not boundless.

"The Jamaican worker, the Jamaican teacher, has been brought brutally into the globalisation about which we hear so much," Mr. Whiteman said. "The fact that the Jamaican teaching force is looked upon favourably in the quest to fill a void in the United States is a credit to the standards which we have managed to maintain over the years."

The Minister said that there was no doubt that the United States' call on the Jamaican teaching force has placed pressure on the teachers that have chosen to remain in the system.

"There is no doubt that we are hard-pressed to fill the void," Mr. Whiteman added, minus the acknowledgement that he was contradicting his earlier remarks that the Ministry was on top of the situation.

Mr. Whiteman also pointed out that the Jamaican situation was not peculiar as other Caribbean islands were also seeing many of their teachers leaving for jobs overseas.

"Without any desire to strike a discordant note here, it is clear that even in our sister territories, Trinidad and Barbados, with reportedly better pay, some teachers have been attracted away," the Minister continued. "The problem clearly, therefore, is not just money and conditions of work. We cannot discount the new experience being sought and to be gained by these teachers, many of whom will return and make an impact and quality difference to the school system which they temporarily left."

JTA secretary-general, Dr. Adolph Cameron, contradicted the Minister however, explaining that he had only recently attended a Caribbean Teachers Union conference where the main topic was migration.

Dr. Cameron said that he was informed that the Trinidadian Government had worked out a better remuneration package with their teachers and that many who had earlier announced that they were leaving had changed their minds.

Back to Lead Stories