Politicians and the head of the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) clashed on Thursday over whether teachers should be required to provide a criminal record in order to get a licence, as well as self-report on past convictions

Section 38 of the proposed JTC Bill states that an applicant is required to pay a fee for the council to conduct a criminal record check, and to disclose to the council the particulars of any convictions in relation to an application.

However, during Thursday’s meeting of the joint select committee reviewing the Bill, Dr Winsome Gordon, chief executive officer of the JTC, insisted that the entire cadre of 25,000 to 30,000 teachers should not be asked to take on the burden of sourcing a criminal record — given the difficulties of doing so, and the extremely low levels of criminality in the profession — unless there is solid justification.

She argued that current data do not support this requirement, as next to zero per cent of teachers have been found to have,or be engaged in criminal activities.

Dr Gordon said, although the provision was included in the Bill, in hindsight, now that the committee is going through the final stages of discussion, it found that this requirement does not exist for teachers at the primary level, and that in fact, the low levels of criminality among teachers “point to the fact that there is no need for the teacher to go through the process of a criminal records check because criminal activity in the profession is extremely low, almost negligible”.

Dr Gordon, however, made clear that the requirement for early childhood teachers would remain in place.

But Government Senator Natalie Campbell Rodrigues registered a firm objection, arguing against the removal of both the requirement to disclose and for a criminal records check.

“I completely disagree. Protecting our children is paramount [and that] data cannot be used as justification. Maybe why we have such a small number is because we have not been doing criminal checks. Right now, we have cases where teachers have been criminally liable or have been charged for egregious acts and are still in the classroom. As such, we cannot remove both a clause that asks people to self-report and a criminal records check. We aren’t doing justice to our children when we do that.”

She stressed that the statistics are irrelevant, based on the fact that teachers are not now being asked for their criminal record.

However, Dr Gordon said the behaviour and conduct of teachers are managed at the level of the school and board, and where a teacher is found to be involved in any criminal activity it’s resolved by the education system. “So the system is its own watchdog.”

Campbell Rodrigues, though, dismissed the explanation as “theoretical”.

The JTC head also pointed out that obtaining a criminal record in Jamaica is an onerous task.

“I just got a police record and I know what I went through. To get the police record in Jamaica, and getting a police record in France, are two different experiences. It is not a walkover. If you’re going to put 25,000 teachers to that process then you must really have justification,” she stated.

She advised that discussions had been held with the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s criminal records office as to how best to manage the process, and that the JTC is proposing to ask teachers to accompany their applications with a consent form for the JTC to do a criminal records check, should the need arise. She said factors that would necessitate this include complaints from within the profession or any member of the public.

“This is not going to go down [well] with the profession, because we all know that getting a criminal record in Jamaica isn’t an easy task. They’re getting more sophisticated, but not now, and it’s not this year or next year, so at the end of the day so far, our children [by] primary level, they are able to protect themselves, and at any rate our teachers have not, on any large scale at all, engaged in criminal activities,” Dr Gordon argued.

But Campbell Rodrigues rejected the rationale, stressing that she had obtained a criminal record herself in recent weeks, and the process had not been difficult at all. She said, instead of doing away with the provision, the council should look into making special arrangements with the criminal records office to accommodate teachers.

“Let’s get special provisions instead, at a certain time of the year, over a certain period, when the department sets out specific areas where this can be done. But to leave our children vulnerable, and to say that everybody after early childhood is taking care of themselves? No, Ms Gordon, absolutely not.”

Trelawny Northern Member of Parliament (MP) Tova Hamilton, and MP for St Catherine South Eastern Robert Miller also registered objections to the removal of the clause, a recommendation which was agreed by the committee at a previous sitting.

Committee chair and Education Minister Fayval Williams indicated that the discussions on clause 38 would be continued at the next meeting of the joint select committee in order to air all views.