THE Ministry of Education is yet to pay and the University of Technology (UTech), Jamaica continues to hold on to the degrees of approximately 100 scholarship recipients, making life difficult for them.

The teacher graduates say they are earning $65,000 per month after four years of study as their employers are unwilling to pay them their full salaries unless they can present their degrees. A full salary, the Jamaica Observer was told, is about $120,000 per month after deductions.

The Ministry of Education had indicated last month that a settlement would be made with UTech on behalf of the students who had originally benefited under the Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies (FELS) Graduates, Bachelor of Education TVET programme.

On December 17, when contacted by the Jamaica Observer, the ministry said it was aware of the situation and that steps were being taken to secure the release of the certificates early the following week when payments would have been made.

Now, with a new school term in train and the resumption of face-to-face classes, the young educators say their plight has worsened.

“Going into this new term, we have to be tightening our budgets further and continue to take on extra jobs to make a more substantial living such as through tutoring ventures. But even so it puts more stress on us as new teachers. Especially with the fact that school is now reopened, and we will be required to travel, etcetera, more expenses will be at play,” one beneficiary told the Observer.

“It is our hope that the ministry will act more quickly in resolving the payments at UTech so that we can receive our degrees,” the young educator said.

Clearing that hurdle, however, the individual noted, would not be the end of the road for the group.

“The next step would be to send it to the ministry for acknowledgement and processing for our salaries to be increased which, I am being told, based on experiences shared by teachers, this may be another trial.

“We are still resolute that the ministry ought to take better care of its workers. Many of us are passionate about the profession and really guiding young minds in this new era of teaching and learning. But I am afraid that if no improvements are made on the side of the ministry, our passions will be stifled and other professions may be considered,” the educator stated.

“We get disheartened at times when we constantly hear of the mismanagement of funds in the ministry. We just honestly want to have the best chance of establishing our livelihood. Statistics show from time to time that not a lot of students get a chance to study in university, much more make it out successfully. We have toiled and worked hard towards achieving our dreams and we just want to make it,” added the young educator.