SOME of the teachers employed by the Kingston Restoration Company (KRC) to teach CXC Maths and English to adults of inner-city communities in Kingston, say the programme stopped abruptly in March without them getting paid for the work they did since January.

The teachers say they were told at the end of March not to return to classes until further notice because the contract under the Citizens Security and Justice programme had ended.

“They just called one day to say they are having some difficulties and we should not go to classes until further notice,” one teacher who requested anonymity told the Observer.

The teacher said this abrupt end to the programme will have an impact on the many students who will be sitting CXC maths on May 25. He said that at the centre where he teaches, more than 40 students and at least six teachers have been affected. There are more than six such centres in Kingston and St Andrew.

“We were preparing these students to sit their CXC Maths exam and when I saw two of them recently, they said they felt so abandoned,” he said.

The classes are held twice per week after working hours and cater mainly to adults, some of whom dropped out of schools before completing CXCs, or never passed the exam. Some high school students who need extra tutoring are also allowed access to the programme.

When contacted, Morin Seymour, executive director of the KRC, said the programme had to take a break until a new contract was approved. He said he was not aware of teachers being owed money.

“It is a big programme so maybe somebody has not been paid since January, but I have not been made aware of it,” he said. “Maybe it is one or two persons but not that many.”

The KRC boss explained that the contract for the Citizens Security and Justice programme ended in March and a new one should have started April 1.

“Like anything else, when a contract ends there is always a little gap between start-up,” he said.

But one teacher pointed out that the contract coming to an end should not have affected their salaries.

“Even if the contract was not yet renewed, we should have gotten paid for the work we already did in the existing contract,” said the teacher who claims to have not been paid since March.

However, Seymour noted that the approval has since been given for them to go forward with the programme and that a one-day session would be held at the Jamaica Conference Centre for those persons who will be sitting the exam.

One teacher who said he was not aware of this planned session, pointed to the lack of communication at the KRC, even as he argued that the programme should not have been allowed to come to a complete stop for seven weeks.

But Seymour said this is not an abnormal situation as such programmes will have breaks. “When you are running a programme over a 12-month period and it comes to an end, you are going to have to break it at some point,” he said.

He added that the students should not be at any major disadvantage from the break. “These people are in their own schools and classes and this is extra stuff that we provide for them so they should not be at any big disadvantage,” he said.

But one teacher explained that many of the students rely solely on the classes to prepare to sit the exams.

“These are people who have no other structured classes and this is why the classes are held at 5:00 pm after work hours,” the teacher said.