President of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, Ena Barclay (left), chats with president of the JTA Co-operative Credit Union, Dorothy Raymond (centre), and Tiffany Spencer-Smith who was awarded the union's Desmond Charles Gascoigne Scholarship at the award ceremony, held last Friday at the Courtleigh Hotel, in New Kingston. - Contributed

President of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), Ena Barclay, has sent out a warning to newly elected Education Minister, Andrew Holness, that there are a number of issues for him to address and the organisation is anxiously awaiting to meet with him.

Addressing the JTA Co-operative Credit Union Annual Awards Ceremony for Scholarships and Grants 2007, held last Friday at the Courtleigh Hotel in New Kingston, Barclay welcomed the new minister who took office the same day.

"We hope that his tenure will be meaningful but we say many issues are waiting for him and we anxiously await to meet with him," Barclay said.

Among the issues to be addressed, the president noted, were the funding of schools, the abolishment of cost sharing and the matter of crime and violence in the institutions.

No time frame

Mrs. Barclay did not want to state an appropriate time frame by which the minister should commence the reimbursement of tuition fees that has been promised by the new administration, but said that by month-end Mr. Holness should be able to provide a refund time frame.

"Tuition only cannot run schools, so either the Government fund schools better or parents continue to contribute ... the parents are also very anxious and they need to know how soon," Barclay said.

In addition, she noted the increase of violence in schools and referred to Wednesday's incident in which a parent was gunned down on the compound of the Montego Bay Preparatory School in St. James.

"Children should be able to function in an uninterrupted manner. I beg them to have a heart of love and forgiveness," Barclay said.

Some eight teachers from the parishes of Portland, St. Thomas, St. Andrew, Clarendon and St. Elizabeth were awarded with scholarships and grants to assist with their higher education at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Northern Caribbean University.

Tiffany Spencer-Smith, teacher at the Morant Bay High, and a student at (UWI) copped the prestigious Desmond Charles Gascoigne Award for Excellence valued at $75,000.

"It is very important that as we try to improve the quality education system that we increase the teachers' knowledge of content and their pedagogical skills," Barclay said.