ARGUING that a policy driver for education should be on the list of issues first tackled by the new Administration, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) yesterday expressed disappointment that a minister of education was not among key government ministers installed on Monday.

“Education is the most urgent of all the ministries that require attention right now,” said JTA President Jasford Gabriel. “We are really hoping that come October 5 [the last date suggested for when classes will resume] that we are not in the same kind of situation that we were on March 12 with all kinds of frustration from teachers and students.”

He was speaking at yesterday’s virtual meeting of the Rotary Club of Kingston.

On Monday, ministers were sworn in for national security, finance, health, as well as foreign affairs and foreign trade. There were no changes from the last Administration when these ministries were headed by Dr Horace Chang (who has now been given the added responsibility to deputy prime minister), Nigel Clarke, Christopher Tufton and Kamina Johnson Smith.

In the last Administration Karl Samuda was minister of education, youth and information. He was appointed to the post in June though he had been in charge of the day to day running of the ministry since March 2019.

Yesterday the JTA president outlined a list of issues that require urgent attention within the context of UNICEF data which shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has had the most devastating effect on the education system in history, with over seven million students in 23 Caribbean countries affected. Locally, more than 600,000 students in 978 public schools, and 30,000 in preparatory and private schools have been impacted.

Accessibility to the Internet has been a major challenge. Only 32 per cent of students have good connection, while 56 per cent have intermittent access, 11 per cent no access, and 34 per cent are without a device, according to a UNICEF/CAPRI study capturing the period since March 13 when schools were closed.

Gabriel also stressed that the need for better remuneration and working conditions remains a contentious issue for teachers, as evidenced by the migration and recruitment of approximately 50,000 teachers from the school system over the past 20 years. He pointed out that in the five months leading up to February, just before Jamaica recorded its first case of COVID-19, 390 more teachers left.

“Many of these teachers have been recruited in the most critical STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) areas, and its spreading now to the arts and across the board,” he said. “While we continue to train more teachers in these areas the rate of attrition is greater than the rate at which the teachers are coming in… Despite the challenges, we must match that against the fact that we must find ways to make the teaching service attractive so that we can retain the brightest and the best.”

He added that the JTA is also concerned that out of the country’s 2,708 early childhood education institutions, just under half, or 1,125 are without a trained teacher. “It’s hard to conceive of this in the 21st century,” he remarked, adding that special attention must also now be paid to increasing the cadre of literacy specialists, social workers and special education teachers.

The JTA said that in tandem with those imperatives, all stakeholders must adjust expectations as the country continues to wrestle with the COVID-19 crisis. “We have to put everything in context, realise that the teachers’, students’, parents’, the ministry of education’s perspective, everything has changed and expectations have to be adjusted even while we exercise awareness,” he said.