THE Jamaican High Commission in the United Kingdom has offered to participate and assist in the orientation programme for teachers recruited from Jamaica to teach in that country.

Deputy high commissioner, Audley Rodriques, made the offer during a meeting recently with one of the largest teacher recruitment agencies in London, Time Plan. For the new school year which started in September, Time Plan recruited about 150 Jamaican teachers for primary and high schools across the UK.

“We would be available to participate in orientation exercises. We strongly believe that we have a contribution to make to get our teachers to settle down,” Rodriques said.

The meeting with Time Plan was organised by the High Commission’s community relations officer, Delores Cooper. The London mission had received a number of queries from teachers relating to the terms and conditions of their contract as well as request for assistance on consular and legal matters.

Rodriques has also proposed that agencies that recruit Jamaican teachers for work overseas should assist with developing teacher training in Jamaica.

“If you have an organisation recruiting teachers from Jamaica and benefiting from its recruitment process, then it’s not a bad idea for that organisation to give back something to the country from which it has recruited teachers,” he said.

In an interview with the Jamaica Information Service, Rodriques said his idea was for the recruiters to consider funding scholarships at teacher training colleges or assist with developing the infrastructure at the colleges.

“One idea would be for the recruiting company to fund a number of scholarships, perhaps two or three scholarships per year at teacher training colleges in Jamaica. Another idea is that the recruitment agency could perhaps finance the establishment of a library or supply the library with books or contribute in someway, shape or form to teacher training in Jamaica,” he said.