TRELAWNY, Jamaica – Education Minister Fayval Williams has indicated that overseas teachers currently taking up jobs within the education sector have not been offered any special contract.

“No, we do not have any contracts currently with Ghana or India or the Philippines. We do not. If there are teachers who are going to come here from overseas, they will operate at the same salary scale as we do currently for the locals,” assured Williams.

“We’re not going overboard. We’re not doing any of those things. And like I said, we’re not inundating the system with teachers from abroad. We’re just looking at gaps in the system, needs in the system and we’re providing the options to our schools,” added the minister.

Williams said a survey was carried out with principals on this issue, “and a very high percentage of them would welcome the option to be able to look at that (getting additional teachers).”

Williams was responding to queries from a teacher during the question and answer session of the final of a three-day Jamaica Teachers’ Association’s (JTA) 60th Annual Conference which was held at the Coral Ocean Spring Resort in Trelawny on Wednesday.

Earlier this month, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Dr Kasan Troupe told a post-cabinet press briefing that the ministry is in an advanced stage of recruiting overseas-based teachers to fill the shortage locally.

Troupe also revealed that even though there is a shortage in the country, countries overseas have approached Jamaica and indicated that they have an oversupply of teachers and would like them to have the opportunity to serve in Jamaica.

She also stated that the foreign recruits were willing to accept the salaries being offered locally.

During a question and answer session on Wednesday JTA trustee and former president Dr Garth Anderson argued that the JTA was not consulted. He also argued that the JTA is not aware of who are the individuals being recruited, the composition of the recruitment team, or how culturally responsive the recruits are.

JTA Past President and Trustee, Dr Garth Anderson.

He stressed that more attention should be paid to the training of teachers.

“So, we are not against foreign teachers, but if you have 10 public- operated teacher training institutions, who are still asking for numbers of teachers to train, and in what areas to train them, and can’t get it, how is it we know how many to take from overseas? What is it we are going to do?” questioned Anderson, who added, “The teacher training institutions have been asking for support [from the ministry] to train teachers, and we have no plan.”

“So, what is this retention plan that we have and working on? We can’t be shooting in the dark and hoping for a miracle. Some people will get dead. So, we have to do something about that,” Anderson argued.

Observer Online was unable to ascertain the number of teachers who have migrated since the end of the last academic year, and the amount being recruited from overseas for the new school year.

Anderson, who is also the principal of Church Teachers’ College in Manchester, alleged that people are obtaining their teacher college training locally to prepare themselves for the overseas market.

“Teachers are entering our colleges with the view to migrate…” Anderson charged.

“So, the problem is going to become critical, critical, more critical than it is now”

According to Anderson, teachers entering the education sector in Jamaica are being paid approximately $1 million per annum less than their counterparts in at least two other countries within the region. He noted that if Jamaica is unable to match what other countries are paying, it should ensure that it is competitive.

“In Jamaica, currently, teachers on average, just entering the system, get about US19,000 per year. In the Bahamas and the Turks, it’s about 23, 25…we need genuine support from the Ministry of Education to ensure that if we can’t match, we are competitive,” Anderson stated.

—Anthony Lewis