A country’s education system is the foundation of its social and economic progress. Therefore, it must be properly managed to provide young people with a better start so they can enter the workforce with confidence. However, the education system in Jamaica is riddled with problems and teachers are usually the ones burdened by these many problems.

Firstly, since the start of the school year, there have been reports of students locked out of school for failure to adhere to their school’s grooming policies. However, many school administrations don’t practice what they preach. School admins are adamant that students follow the rules, but many schools do not follow the rules and regulations laid out by the ministry or the Education Act. School administrations, at times, do whatever they want. It’s like a free-for-all across the Jamaican education system.

For example, the Education Act states that a temporary appointment of a teacher should not exceed three terms unless the board of the school, at the end of the period, has agreed to extend that period. It further explains that after assessments, a recommendation should be made by the principal to the board. Once the recommendation is for the continuation of the appointment, based on the assessment of the teacher’s work and competencies, subsequent appointment of the teacher should follow.

However, this is certainly not the case. You have many teachers working for five years and more at institutions and have yet to be made permanent. This impacts vacation, study leave and finances as there are financial institutions that do not grant loans to teachers who are not permanently employed. Additionally, some teachers are fired or asked to resign without the process outlined in the Education Act being followed.

Secondly, the power given to principals to assign teachers “any other duties” needs to be evaluated. Teachers are required to create and execute lesson plans, create and grade assignments, maintain records (both as form teachers and subject teachers), serve as club advisors and take on any other tasks given to them by their principals. Where do we draw the line? Some of these extra duties see teachers working on weekends, late hours in the evenings, working in the canteens, etc.

For example, after COVID-19 sent classroom learning online in 2020, grade 11 students were allowed to return to school to prepare for their Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination. One school administration in St Mary, during this time, assigned their teachers various COVID-19 safety duties. These included checking the temperature of students at the school gate, taking lunch orders and delivering those lunches to the students. The teachers were expected to take on these duties while still engaging students online and face to face. This is just one example of the outrageous and ridiculous tasks school administrations require teachers to shoulder. When will we say enough is enough? There needs to be some form of limitation to what principals can assign teachers.

Thirdly, teachers shouldn’t have to wait three months to a year to get their correct salaries. To make matters worse, this has been highlighted many times, but neither the Ministry of Education nor Jamaica Teachers’ Association has made any effort to resolve it.

Teaching is a rewarding career, and many teachers find solace in the fact that they are providing their students with the tools they need to succeed. Nonetheless, it is still very demanding and draining. Teachers face pressure from students, parents, heads of departments, supervisors, school administrators and the Ministry of Education. So much is expected of teachers, but so little is given in remuneration. Imagine having so many duties, and at the end of the month you have to settle for pre-trained teachers’ salaries or, in some cases, nothing at all. At one point I had to wait six months to get my correct salary and then an additional year to receive my retroactive salary. I just want to add that my increments aren’t forthcoming either.

The education system needs to implement electronic systems that allow teachers to easily input their information and submit scanned copies of their degrees and diplomas. This would eliminate bursars having to transport/send the documents to the regional offices and teachers not being paid because the documents were not delivered to the ministry in time. It would also eliminate the issue of teachers having to resubmit documents when they leave one school to take up employment at another. Furthermore, I fail to see why so much time is needed to evaluate a teacher’s qualifications to determine where he or she falls on the salary scale. Why can’t the process take two weeks? Does the ministry need more personnel? Well, hire them. There are so many young educated Jamaicans in need of jobs.

These are only a few of the problems muddying our education system and suffocating our teachers. Because of these issues, teachers are not motivated and some do the bare minimum or flee the classroom. If Jamaica is to realise its full potential for socio-economic growth, its education system needs to be outstanding. Therefore, solutions must be implemented to address the many issues plaguing the system.

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