Mr Paul Adams has begun his term as president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association in a very combative mode. His fight is not concerned with addressing the problems of failing schools, with improving the literacy of students who graduate from our institutions, of getting teachers to bend their minds toward improving their administration and delivery of education to their constituents, or even to remove the pit latrines which, alas, are still eyesores in many of our rural schools. His energy and stridency, supported by the JTA, are being directed, and wasted, in getting the minister of education to rescind the appointment of Mr Alphansus Davis as the chairman of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).

Mrs Nadine Molloy-Young held a steadying hand over the JTA during her tenure. She had some important ideas that could drive the educational enterprise, but one year is too short a time for any meaningful output to be gained, however well-intentioned a president of the JTA may be. Notwithstanding this, the matter of Mr Davis continuing at the TSC should have been addressed in a more forthright way, especially considering that the JTA had withdrawn its representatives from the TSC and many important appointments are being held up because of this. Despite all this, Mr Adams and his new team seem wedded to the idea that it is better to defend the status quo and fight for Mr Davis’s removal even though in the mind of the wider society this is an inconsequential and relatively unimportant matter against the background of the dire straits that education is in in Jamaica. There is no glaring conflict of interest between Mr Davis offering a minister advice on a portfolio and at the same time presiding over the TSC. This could only be relevant if the JTA thinks that Mr Davis is a mere political functionary in which case he will be judged on the basis of the advice given or certain positions adopted on the commission. After all, he would be just one member of the commission. If there is another agenda that the JTA sees as a corrupting influence on Mr Davis’s judgements, they should say so clearly and loudly so that the society can render its verdict. It will not be enough for the JTA to continue hiding behind the thin veil of a conflict of interest.

This imbroglio and consequent waste of time and energy is sad, given the sad state that the educational enterprise is in. For example, the minister has called attention to a number of failing schools that have attracted the ministry’s attention and that will come in for greater scrutiny and intervention by himself. This has caused uproar with members of the teaching fraternity claiming that he has no legal standing in the matter. Even if the minister was not given any statutory standing to intervene in failing schools, it would be a matter of great urgency that any minister with this portfolio would be found negligent not to so intervene. Common sense and accountability would demand that he or she does. But in this case the minister does have legal standing and it would be sheer neglect of his responsibility if he should fail to act. We do not seem to be able to do anything in Jamaica that does not involve a big fight. The schools relish the subventions from government and howl loudly when they are not received or when they are cut. But when it comes to be accountable for the failure or success of their schools, the minister and by extension the ministry must keep their distance. No sensible education programme can be built on this kind of foundation. In the end it is the children who will suffer when schools are poorly managed.

With regard to this matter, greater emphasis must be placed on the curriculum of the teacher-training institutions on management practices in the classroom. If it is not being done already, teachers who are subsequently appointed principals must go through special training that can enhance their management and administrative skills. Conflict resolution should top the list of any such training. As the minister has opined, there are deep-seated cultural attitudes that function as impediments to the teaching and learning process and these must be identified and hopefully expunged from the system.

The new school year has just started and all hands must be on deck for the children in our schools. It is to them that the teachers must be committed. It is about time that those who speak the loudest for education begin to show some real commitment that they do care and stop wasting precious time and energy over extraneous matters that will not improve the literacy of one child. My advice to the JTA: get on with it.

stead6655@aol.com

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