Like the education minister, Mr Andrew Holness, this newspaper hopes that the strike by public sector teachers planned for today and tomorrow will not endanger the smooth running of the Caribbean Examination Council examinations.

A Sunday Observer news story tells us that in excess of 10 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency (CAPE) examinations — including visual arts, music, sociology, French, and Caribbean Studies — are scheduled over the two days.

Those exams will accelerate through May before conclusion in June. They are heavily dependent on the input of teachers as invigilators, particularly.

It would appear that following the work-to-rule of last week, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) acted strategically in ensuring that most classroom preparation for students entering these exams was complete before intensifying industrial action.

For that we are grateful.

But this newspaper has a fundamental problem with teachers going on strike, even if in legal terms, theirs is not classified as an Essential Service. We suspect that many teachers who view their job not just as a profession, but perhaps more so as a calling, will also have difficulty in justifying a withdrawal of service.

For ultimately it’s the children, to whom teachers are naturally assumed to be dedicated, who will suffer most.

The moral issue apart, educators should also be asking themselves if, in practical terms, there is anything to be gained from a work stoppage.

As we understand it, the JTA, which is said to represent 23,000 of 27,000 public school teachers, opted to strike after the Government failed to meet their demand for the payment of $2 billion out of $4 billion in retroactive salaries owed to them this year. The Government has said it can pay teachers $1 billion at this time.

In pressing its case the JTA has insisted that where there is a will, there is a way. But it is also well-known that this Jamaican Government is in as tight a financial bind as any in living memory. It is obligated, by virtue of its borrowing relationship with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to abide as close as possible to the confines of its recently announced austerity budget.

Also, there are several other public sector bodies, not least nurses and police, who are also making wage-related demands.

The JTA, like other unions representing pubic sector workers, are understandably incensed at a number of broken promises by Mr Bruce Golding’s Government. Those broken promises are among the reasons the Government’s credibility is being so widely questioned.

But no matter what you do, you can’t get blood out of stone. It seems to this newspaper that teachers, like others in the public sector, need to reassess.

Importantly, we think, they need to find ways other than strike to deal with their situation.