Teachers struggling to be face of progress, says former JTA president
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Immediate past president of Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) La Sonja Harrison says the salary of teachers is unattractive, even as educators are expected to be the face of progress in society.
“… You are holding up the benefits and the values of championing the rights of education and boys back off round a corner and teacher go over there and say, ‘Sir, you are not paying attention to the math, English, social studies’ — whatever the teacher is teaching. Boy say, ‘Boy Miss, I a do a transaction right about now and I a go earn 50 grand [thousand] or a 100k [thousand]later [in] US,” she said, suggesting that students see scamming as more lucrative than becoming an educator.
“When you poorly pay teachers and they can’t afford to even purchase homes, and teachers are to be embodying what are the benefits of education… People who pass teachers on the road and say ‘Miss, you teach me enuh’ and teacher still a walk?” she added.
Speaking at the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica’s (LMAJ) 28th Golden Scale Awards ceremony in Mandeville on Saturday night, the former JTA president said teachers are seen as the face of education.
She encouraged members of the LMAJ to push for civics to be reintroduced to the school curriculum.
“I want to encourage you to become advocates for the return of the teaching of civic education as an isolated subject in all our schools. The curriculum exists; I went to school and had a red book…” she said.
“In addition to this civic education we need character education as well, which I presume will include much [of] the touted values and attitudes programme of the 1990s into the early 2000s. This will help us significantly. We missed the mark. You see how many years have passed when that campaigning for that values and attitudes programme was never implemented? And we are now how many years down the wicket and we are seeing what we are reaping as a result of not taking the bull by the horn,” lamented Harrison.
She encouraged the civic group to assist schools through different routes.
“We must be vigilant to the schools which we are affiliated to… We are parents. We are grandparents. We serve as board chairmen, so when we hear the utterances [about] returning civics education you need to be looking with a watchful eye and say where it is. I need to see it,” said Harrison.
