Churches are clamouring for a more defined stake in the make-up and operation of the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) to ensure that they have an input in teacher quality and other factors aligned with their principles and standards.

The Ecumenical Education Committee (EEC) — which represents owners of denominational and trust schools in the island — and the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) are pushing for changes to the draft Bill now before Parliament, which will establish the council and its extensive oversight powers for the profession.

In their submission on Thursday to the joint select committee of Parliament which is reviewing the proposed JTC Bill, the religious leaders pointed out that churches own and manage approximately 35 per cent or close to 700 of the island’s public schools.

Archbishop of the diocese of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands Howard Gregory pointed out that the majority of teacher training institutions are also church-run.

“As a significant partner in the enterprise of education, we believe that as church we should have some input in the governance structure put in place to provide oversight for the educational system, and so have a say in the operations of the JTC and what is taught in our schools, who teaches in our schools, and the kind of learning environment created in them,” he said.

“We believe that the Church, by virtue of its religious value framework and testimony of its legacy, needs to have a continuing voice in those institutions, policies, and programmes that are designed to shape the future of education,” he stated.

The church school leadership also took issue with the composition of the JTC Board of Governors and wants specific representation by church schools.

Member of the EEC, Ursula Khan, said as owners of such a large proportion of schools in the island, the denominational school operators should have four members on the board, and rejects the requirement that one of them should be a licensed teacher.

“We also urge that the trust, as significant owners, should also have two members on the board,” she said. The Bill provides for three nominees of a person or body that represent religious denominations which own educational institutions in Jamaica.

The EEC and the JCC also fear that the function of the school boards could be usurped by the JTC in certain instances, and have called for clear boundaries to be established between the role of the two boards, and for matters such as teacher competency to be handled locally first, before being escalated to the JTC.

Responding to insistence from members of the parliamentary committee, including chairman and Education Minister Fayval Williams, that the council would return matters to the school board if it believes those issues should be resolved locally, noted educator and principal of Campion College Grace Baston argued that weaknesses in school governance is a significant issue that could not be effectively addressed by placing responsibility on the JTC.

“It has to be solved at a more local level than having it come from a central authority,” she stated, pointing to a suggestion of forming regional boards of management to be responsible for clusters of schools.

Former member of the education commission of the United Church and former principal of Campion College Radley Reid argued, too, that sending complaints to the council first would result in it being bombarded and its time wasted with trivial matters.

The churches are also adamant that the chairman of the board of governors of the JTC should be a uniting force, looking out for the best interest of all stakeholders in the sector.

“When you look at the composition, a lot of ex officio people are there. We found it very strange that the deputy chairman should also be appointed — we say no. If you look at all school boards, we don’t have any such thing there. It makes better sense to have the deputy chairman elected, and not appointed by members of the board,” Khan said.

Archbishop Gregory questioned the limits and capacity of the council and whether it would realistically be able to handle every concern that arise in each institution.

Of the 665 church-owned institutions, 208 belong to the Anglican Church; 148 to the Baptist Union; 91 to the Roman Catholic Church; 69 to the United Church; 21 to the Church of God; 69 to the Methodist Church; 39 to the Moravian Church; 15 to trusts; and five to the Society of Friends.

Teachers and teaching colleges have said that they support the legislation, in terms of the proposed advancements to the profession, but are wary that it is too focused on penalising teachers.