Dear Editor,

Is it a misconception or is there a real crisis in education regarding resignations and migration of teachers? Is this concern measurable and are the current resignations and migration truly “massive” in comparison to corresponding periods for the last five academic years?

No comparison is ever made in isolation by the rational mind because all comparisons are basic analyses relating to a point or some points of reference. And if we wish to evaluate the veracity of any comparisons then it is necessary to know the points of reference represented by the corresponding facts and figures.

These were my thoughts recently when listening to a discussion on RJR’s Beyond the Headlines between host Dionne Jackson-Miller and Education Minister Fayval Williams on the aforementioned issue. The minister presented figures of 167, representing resignations of teachers for only the months of July and August 2022, and 900 plus, for the graduates or the expected entrants into the classrooms for the new academic year.

Is this a crisis or one of our traditional challenges in education? Challenges are invitations to do better. We can overcome these challenges by our collective will and resourcefulness through targeted interventions and the strategic deployment and management of human and other resources.

It would, therefore, be far more informative to all stakeholders and also of critical importance for the Ministry of Education to release the data regarding the number of teachers reaching retirement age, schools affected by resignations and subject areas, not only for this summer, but the average resignations per term nationally and comparative figures for the previous academic year.

Why would the Ministry of Education conceal crucial information from stakeholders? And if these figures are not available, then this would be unfortunate and most disheartening because we cannot effectively manage what we cannot or do not measure.

Daive Facey

DR.Facey@gmail.com