Rev Ronnie Thwaites’ contribution last week to the Sectoral Debate was a speech that previous ministers of education may have dreamed of making, but may have been stopped by the risk of losing the favour of 20,000 influential Jamaicans — our teachers.

However, there are three little letters that have focused our minds wonderfully: IMF. Every government ministry must now seek to cut all vestiges of waste from their budgets and any private sector employer would shudder at the figures that were being paid out to support teachers’ extensive study leave and multiple weeks of regular leave.

Last Thursday, in a report on the education minister’s speech, the Jamaica Observer stated, “Teachers are allowed a year of fully paid study leave after two years’ service,” Thwaites said, adding that “leave may be granted for up to another year without pay.

“Teachers employed before September 2003 may apply for 52 days leave on full pay, and another 40 days more with half pay, while those employed after 2003 may apply for 40 days leave on full pay and 28 with half pay. Those days are taken from the prescribed 190 school days,” Thwaites said.

The report noted: “That situation is ‘no longer affordable’ as replacing teachers absent from the classroom for study and vacation leave costs the Government $2.5 billion annually. In addition, $574 million is currently owed to schools for substitute teachers,” Thwaites said. “However, the minister said teachers will be compensated for the suspension of study leave privileges if they are enrolled in a course of study that is directly related to their area in teaching or where there is a need for it.”

Change is difficult, and so we can understand the concern expressed by JTA President Clayton Hall. However, with the availability on online courses, the minister’s proposal that teachers access courses during their vacation or on a part-time basis, is a reasonable one. Indeed, this has been the practice in many private sector and some Government organisations for several years.

As we strive for increased productivity, it was refreshing to hear Transport and Works Minister Dr Omar Davies call for a reduction in bureaucracy. CVM-TV reported that on the programme Direct, the minister admitted “that the Government’s cumbersome bureaucracy has threatened to derail major investments”. He said he had had to intervene personally to ensure the continuation of important projects.

We are blessed that two outstanding Jamaicans, CEO of Sagicor Richard Byles, and Bank of Jamaica Governor Brian Wynter, are co-chairs of the monitoring committee for the implementation of Jamaica’s programme with the IMF. The other well-respected members of the committee are Financial Secretary Devon Rowe, head of the co-ordinating and implementation unit in the Ministry of Finance, Dr Carol Nelson; trade union representatives Helene Davis-Whyte and Ralston Hyman, Senator Norman Grant, head of the Jamaica Agricultural Society, and private-sector representatives Keith Duncan, Bruce Bowen, Patrick Hylton and Chris Zacca.

I hope the committee will give regular updates to the media on its findings. Such a partnership is important for ordinary Jamaicans who are anxious to see how these billions of dollars that we are borrowing will translate into a better quality of life for them, a safer and more just society, and a secure future for our children.

Food For the Poor delivers 10th school

Last year, Food For the Poor (FFP) pledged to build 50 basic schools in 50 months to commemorate Jamaica 50. They are certainly on track, with the 10th school delivered last week in Steerfield, St Ann.

It is a heart-warming story of an elderly tourist who fell in love with Jamaica and spent his last vacation here before he passed away. His grandson, Jeff Levitetz, was introduced to the Jamaica 50 programme by Kim Mahfood Williams of FFP USA. Jeff decided to honour the memory of ‘Grandpa Charlie’ by sponsoring the building of a spacious school, merging four single units on a concrete foundation with modern sanitary facilities.

Minister of youth and culture Lisa Hanna, who is MP for the area, said she was actively pursuing the building of more schools in her constituency, including a new high school to be opened shortly.

Having toured various parts of the parish with FFP Jamaica Project Manager Susan James Casserly, Jeff says his organisation, the Levitetz Family Foundation, is looking forward to funding more projects in Jamaica. The bright faces of the tiny tots of Steerfield Basic told us how important such gestures are. This is the type of open, honest partnership that will take us far.

Justice the Hon Lensley Wolfe

This week we feature the Honourable Justice Lensley Wolfe, the sixth of the ‘Living Legacies’ honoured by the seniors organisation, CCRP Jamaica, at their third anniversary event recently. Justice Wolfe was described by his nominator and CCRP board member Donna Parchment Brown as “a bastion of integrity and a leading light in the work to improve Jamaica’s justice system”.

Justice Wolfe is a distinguished jurist who served as Jamaica’s chief justice from 1996 to 2007. Described as “one who stands tall in discipline and rectitude, known for his humility… but fair and no-nonsense on the bench,” Justice Wolfe’s administration was marked by significant improvements in the delivery of justice.

He promoted and facilitated the increased institutionalisation and use of Alternative Dispute Resolution in the courts and communities of Jamaica and the Caribbean. He now serves as patron of Jamaica’s Dispute Resolution Foundation.

One of the most respected proponents of integrity, Justice Wolfe has chaired numerous committees reporting on important national and regional issues, including the first Annual Report of the Judiciary of Jamaica and the 1993 Wolfe Report of the National Task Force on Crime. He served as a member of the 2007 Justice System Reform Task Force, and currently chairs the Police Public Complaints Authority and the Public Services Commission.

Justice Wolfe chairs the board of governors of his alma mater, St Jago High School. He is an honorary bencher of the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn where he was called to the Bar in 1967, after studying at Inns Court Law School in London. He is active in the Anglican Church and serves as chancellor of its diocese. Justice Lensley Wolfe — a living legend of whom every Jamaican can be proud.

lowriechin@aim.com

www.lowrie-chin.blogspot.com