OCHO RIOS, St Ann – Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) president Ruel Reid has called for a national debate on how to adequately fund the government’s Task Force on Education report, citing the need for such a dialogue to replace the ‘unneeded focus’ on teacher performance.

“I am very disappointed that after the hype of following the presentation the Task Force Report that we really do not have the will to find the money.

The national debate should focus more on funding efficiently the education system and not wholly about teacher performance. For how are teachers to demonstrate superior performance with inadequate resources and facilities?” Reid asked.

“If we have limited resources let there be open communication and a consensus among stakeholders on priorities and methods of funding. I am calling for this debate now,” Reid said.

He was delivering his inaugural address shortly after being invested as president at the JTA’s 41st annual conference being held in this resort town.

He told the conference that it should not be left up to principals and school boards to find creative charges to fund schools. They should, he suggested, be focused on managing the teaching and learning process.

Reid said the JTA agreed with most of the recommendations in the Task Force Report, except for those which suggested a reduction in benefits won through “the sweat and tears of our forerunners”. But he insisted that teachers be represented on the implementation team, otherwise the recommendations would not work.

“Best practices in organisational development or transformation dictates that those who are going to be most affected by change must be engaged in the process of change. If we must change, change must take place under the right circumstances and done the right way. We will ensure that no change takes place that is detrimental to our teachers,” Reid told the teachers.

At the same time, he urged local financial institutions to develop an affordable revolving loan scheme to fund higher education for teachers, saying teachers no longer met the requirement to access loans from the Students’ Loan Bureau, neither for themselves nor their children.

He cited the Teri Loan programme in the United States, under which persons can get up to US$15,000 per year for 25 years at a 6.5 per cent per annum interest rate. This, he said, translated to about one million Jamaican dollars at 6.5 per cent with monthly repayment of less than $6,000.

In the meantime, Reid said with changes to the education system, there was need for a transformation of the rest of the society, including the political system, governance, policing and parenting.

“We have some values in our society that need transformation.

These include bling-bling. We now have bling-bling even in the church and at funerals; respect over human life; you will be killed for ‘dissing’ someone, or even stepping on their toes, we don’t seem to accept sorry anymore.

“.We must abandon political tribalism and put Jamaica first and treat each other as a brother or a sister and love our neighbours as ourselves,” Reid said.

gilchristc@jamaicaobserver.com