Disheartened teacher
published: Friday | September 19, 2003
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I AM writing this letter as a Jamaican teacher with a sad heart. I am employed to an independent school and I was made aware that the government will be placing a tax on the amount we get for material allowance. In disbelief, I called the office at the Ministry of Education that deals with this matter and was told that this is indeed a fact.
This will be a huge setback for my co-workers and myself. I would like to use this forum to ask the Ministers of Education and Finance to give the reason for treating private school teachers as if they are liabilities to their Ministries. We have to work equally as hard as our government counterparts, if not harder sometimes. We are required to pay the same taxes as everyone else (these include Education Tax). These children are your responsibility too and will be a part of the future of this country.
I have also realised from past experiences that when seminars are held for classroom teachers to teach new methodologies and concepts private school teachers are largely exempted and even if we are invited we have to pay. Mrs Henry Wilson, please remember that it is the students that we teach who are probably well off, not us the teachers.
