OCHO RIOS, St Ann — Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) president, Wentworth Gabbidon, has taken a swipe at the island’s deejays whose behaviour on stage, he says, coupled with blaring music from motor vehicles, are among contributing factors to the declining standards in the society.

“Our children who are the future have been exposed to lewd behaviour by deejays on stage, some of the movies shown on television, and they also learn from our behaviour,” Gabbidon said.

He was delivering his first public address as JTA head, during his installation ceremony at the association’s 39th conference at the Renaissance Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios Monday night.

“The coarseness which is now pervading the society, indiscipline on the roads, the loud music blaring from motor vehicles as they travel along the street, are all part of the negative things which influence the culture of crudity and coarseness,” Gabbidon added.

Speaking against the background of the theme for this year’s conference, ‘Promoting Positive Values and Attitudes Through Education,’ he challenged all stakeholders in the field of education, the church, and all well-thinking Jamaicans to immediately join hands towards the forming of a more humane society where moral values and attitudes are the ideal.

“Let us take back the country from where it is today. Gone are the days when the teachers and other persons who shaped character were seen as role models in the society. But things have changed so much; is it any wonder that we face the current predicament?” Gabbidon asked.

The country needs, he said, to get back to the basics by placing an emphasis on the importance of time, the value of hard work and honesty, and shaping the character of the nation’s children.

“Children will learn most of the values and attitudes, which they will take with them through life, in the zero to five age group. We, therefore, need to focus on reaching them at this age and stage, before it is too late,” Gabbidon urged.

Another issue that needs urgent attention, according to the president, was the exodus of teachers from the classroom, which could see a shortage of these professionals in the classroom come September. He called on government to pay teachers enough to keep them in the classroom.

“As a nation we need to retain our best teachers in the system. We must, therefore, provide a level of remuneration that will stem the flow to foreign lands,” he said.

In a wide-ranging acceptance speech, the new JTA boss also called on government to provide the necessary furniture, equipment and material to properly equip schools. He said desks, chairs, tables, stationery supplies, projectors and other equipment that teachers need to do their job were in short supply. Computers, laboratories and libraries, he said, are also other areas where there are shortcomings.

The JTA boss, the current principal of Pike All-Age School in Manchester, replaced Sadie Comrie as head of the teachers’ union representing 17,799, or 73 per cent, of the island’s 24,286 teachers at all levels from infant to tertiary.

He lists among his priorities, during his tenure, a conference on Early Childhood Education, scheduled for March 2004; training young members as leaders; and the expansion of programmes to assist teachers in their pursuit of academic and professional development.