The Editor, Sir:

I am using this medium to respond to the article titled 'Failing education' by Peter Espeut in The Gleaner on Wednesday, June 13.

I am a trained teacher who taught in Jamaica at the secondary level for five years. I have been given the opportunity to work in Japan and I am in the process of completing my first year here. I teach at a junior high school and six elementary schools, where I also teach.

The Japanese education is not very different from that of Jamaica where the teaching hours are concerned, which has been identified as one of the main problems to be rectified in correcting the Jamaican education system. Teaching here starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends for three days of the week at 3:20 p.m. On the other days, school ends at 2:20 p.m. The lunch period is from 12:25 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. daily. Students remain at school until as late as 6:00 p.m. for club activities; no teaching takes place after 3:20 p.m., however.

In Jamaica, teaching commenced at the school I worked at 7:40 a.m. and ended at 2:30 p.m. The lunch session was from 11:20 a.m. to noon. When the hours are compared, it should be clear that the 'facts' on the eight hours teaching day in Japan are not accurate.

Teacher-to-student ratio

What Japan has done to prevent a 'failing education' is to ensure that the teacher-to-student ratio is one which helps the latter to progress and rewards the former for what they have acknowledged is really important work. Furthermore, the schools I work at and others that I have heard of here are equipped with all the technological elements which enhance learning.

Teachers here are rewarded extremely well for their service to nation building. They enjoy the advantage of getting two bonuses per year and 40 days for casual leave. They also have the luxury of taking up to six months fully paid leave for maternity or illness. Additionally, their positions are entrenched and after obtaining a degree, they do not engage in further studies for higher qualifications.

If a survey were to be done in Jamaica to uncover whether teachers would work for 20 or even more days per year and be just as well compensated for their efforts, as the Japanese, there would be wide scale agreement.

As a teacher in Jamaica with a master's degree, I took home less than $50,000 after taxes. In other sectors in Jamaica, individuals with similar qualifications take home three or four times that amount. It would be really wonderful if proponents of this change could also lobby for humane wages for teachers, as well as adequate facilities for teaching in the 21st century and to organise the student-teacher ratio at a realistic level, so students get a fair chance of learning.

Compare this

At two of my elementary schools that I visit, the entire school population consists of 72 to 80 students and there are six grades. In one school, there is one child in grade one and that child has his/her own teacher. Compare this to Jamaica where on average there are 35 to 40 students in a classroom built for 25 students. I casually mentioned to one of my vice-principals here that at a primary school that my niece is attending in Jamaica, there are 60 children in her class and there is only one teacher. He was horrified.

In closing, I sincerely hope that with the proposed extension of the school year, wages are 'extended' too. Teachers are important people in the society and the assumed benefit of months of vacation that teachers get should be properly investigated. As with many other Jamaican teachers, we would gladly accept this extension for adequate compensation.

I am, etc.,

KIMBERLEY VAUGHNS

tryinggirlforever@yahoo.com

Via Go-Jamaica