CORAL SPRING, Trelawny — President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) Leighton Johnson has endorsed local schools’ importation of international students to compete in local sporting events such as the recently concluded ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs).

However, he was quick to add that the students should not only be used to amass points for the schools they represent, but should also benefit academically.

“I don’t believe that we should import athletes just to get points [at] Champs,” Johnson told the Jamaica Observer Wednesday on the sidelines of the JTA’s three-day Education Conference 2024 in Trelawny.

“The flip [side] is once the school has developed a product which speaks to the holistic development of the student, then I believe this is something that we should capitalise on,” he added.

He attributes the presence of international student athletes at Jamaican schools to the country’s world-class sporting programme.

“It speaks to the quality of the programme in and of itself that we have to offer here in Jamaica. And what I know is that institutions for the most part try to develop their product in such a way that it provides the holistic development for students,” said Johnson, who is also principal of Trelawny-based Muschett Comprehensive High.

“So I believe it’s a step in the right direction once our product is of such that it attracts international attention,” he added.

Johnson’s stance is in line with that of Sports Minister Olivia Grange, who recently told the
Observer that overseas athletes competing here will further enhance Jamaica’s sporting programme.

Prior to this year’s staging of Champs, it was announced that a record number of overseas athletes would be competing this year. More than 100 students from the Caribbean, the USA, Europe and Africa participated in both boys’ and girls’ events. Earlier in the year, a quota was implemented on the number of foreign nationals competing, which meant that each school would only be permitted to use two student athletes per class. This followed a vote taken among principals after there was an influx of international athletes competing from 2021 to 2023.

On Wednesday, Johnson sought to draw a parallel between the benefits international athletes can get from competing at Jamaican events with the country’s ability to train educators for export.

“The same is true for our teacher training institutions. I strongly believe that a nation that has in excess of 10 teacher training institutions this provides an opportunity for us to train teachers for the international market,” said the JTA president.

“There is a global teacher shortage. EI (Education International) indicated that there is a 69-million teacher shortage right across the world. And what we know is that recruiters are continuously buoyant on our shores, trying to get our teachers to go teach in other jurisdictions: in England, in the United States, and [other parts of] North America, in some other regions and territories within the Caribbean; in Europe, Asia, Dubai, Saudi Arabia — these recruiters are here,” Johnson added.

He is of the view that it is a good time to get more people enrolled in teachers’ colleges to produce more educators to supply both local and international markets.

“There is an opportunity for us. There has to be that campaign to fill our teachers’ colleges so that once students are produced, they can fill our demand here as well as fill the demand in the overseas market,” the JTA president said.

“Our product is rich; teachers here in Jamaica are in high demand. Therefore, I believe this presents an opportunity for us to train teachers and export them,” he added.