Dear Editor,

I was very happy to read the article entitled ‘British classrooms calling’, with the sub-head ‘UK offering $2-m relocation package plus other incentives to Jamaican teachers’, published in the Jamaica Observer on April 6, 2024.

I am very happy to hear when people are able to move up the social ladder, and who deserves it more than our hard-working, dedicated teachers? It is no secret that I would love my colleagues to remain at home and develop our nation; however, I do not find it difficult to be happy for those who make the decision to leave.

The high percentage of Jamaican teachers being recruited by foreign bodies confirms that the country produces well-trained teachers, ideally suited for the global market.

I was recently asked this question: Should we just accept that we are now living in a global village and that one can be trained in Jamaica but choose to work in the US, UK, China, or elsewhere? This question needs to be taken into consideration. At the time, my response was simply, “Ideally, but Jamaican teachers are not ‘choosing’ to go to these countries. Poor working conditions are driving them out.”

I thought it was a very succinct response. Many teachers really do not want to uproot their entire families to live elsewhere, they simply do not have the opportunity to climb that social ladder in Jamaica. In fact, no public sector worker really does. It is ridiculous that public sector workers pay such high taxes yet they are unable to benefit from any of the social welfare programmes funded by these taxes. Their salaries are taxed, and the same salary is deposited in their back accounts and every time they make a withdrawal from their accounts, service charge and tax are deducted. How many times will the Government tax the same salary?

These are things public sector workers, including teachers, are disgruntled about.

Unlike the UK recruitment offer, there is no $2-m cushion and other incentives available for Jamaican teachers in their home country. It is, therefore, not a bad idea to consider Jamaica a part of the global village that trains teachers, nurses, doctors, carpenters, tilers, plumbers, etcetera for the global workforce.

However, once again, the Government has failed to see the opportunity for the country’s economic benefit from these recruitment activities. As a Government, I would advise that the affected ministries become a part of the negotiation process and broker deals from which the country also benefits and not just the individual teacher and his/her family.

According to the article, “…[Prime Minister] Rishi Sunak said legal migration to the UK was ‘too high’ and vowed to reduce it.” Yet, as the article explains, “Jamaica alone supplied 486 qualified teachers last year, twice as many as in 2022, as schools in England launched recruiting drives in a country with a population of just 2.8 million and suffering its own chronic shortages of qualified teachers.”

The question then is: Why is the Government of Jamaica not benefiting from their professionals moving to another country? As it stands, the people of Jamaica are being done a disservice because it is their taxes which are being used to subsidise many tertiary education programmes from which these migrants have benefited! It is taxpayers money that funds the Students’ Loan Bureau and provides subsidies and grants for student teachers at teachers’ colleges and local universities.

Let it be clear, I am not campaigning for our teachers to leave, but if they do, why not allow our country to benefit from it? After all, it is our country that is suffering the brain drain.

However, for those looking to leave; those who have received their job offers already; those who are counting down to write those resignation letters and cross Jordan, please do not throw away your sticks too quickly.

As I looked at the many agencies coming to steal our critical thinkers, I am reminded of the Windrush generation, and I pray that there will not be a Windrush generation II in the not too distant future. Be mindful that ‘nuh weh nuh betta dan yaad’, and as citizens of Jamaica, no matter which party is in power, no one can deport you from Jamaica when it is felt that you have served your purpose!

As we train teachers, nurses, doctors, police, etcetera who migrate to work in other countries, let it not be at Jamaica’s expense. We cannot afford to become the first ‘Fourth World’ nation!

Natesha Lindsay

lindsay.natesha2@gmail.com