OPPOSITION People’s National Party’s (PNP) spokesperson on education and community development Senator Damion Crawford says the Government has adopted a false sense of security where teacher migration is concerned as its own probe has revealed that the numbers this year will mimic last year’s and will surpass 1,400.

Speaking at a virtual press briefing put on by the party at its Old Hope Road headquarters in St Andrew on Wednesday, Crawford, in rebutting indications by Education Minister Fayval Williams that there was less anxiety in the system about teacher migration this year, called for “truthful information from the ministry as to the current and expected migration” and the true numbers of teachers who have left the island over the last five years.

According to Crawford, “the ministry is ill-informed and has less than adequate information which has led it to assume that teacher migration is not at crisis proportions”.

“The constant underestimation and under-reporting of migration and the constant argument that there is not a crisis needs to be properly investigated. The ministry needs to say the numbers who have left the classrooms in the last five years. We also would like to know what is the number of posts that have not been filled for any period of time over the last four years,” Crawford said, noting that the impact of teacher migration is being reflected in external exam results.

In attacking the Government’s plan to import teachers to fill the gaps, Crawford said these were at best “helter-skelter”.

“Some 28 Cuban teachers are now in Jamaica, but we have not seen the arrival of the much shouted about Ghanaian teachers. They should have been carried in to participate in summer school so they could acclimatise themselves. We have questions about the Ghanaian teachers who should come and [would like to know it they will] be enough to supplement the 1,400 teachers who are leaving,” Crawford said. He also demanded to be told about the terms and lengths of the contracts.

In the meantime, Crawford mooted several ideas which he said would boost teacher retention. The Government, he said, should explore making housing more likely and more affordable for teachers and suggested that the Administration consult with the National Housing Trust to examine the probability of offering higher thresholds to teachers or doubling same with an interest rate of no more than three per cent. He further suggested a “graduating concession programme” for teachers purchasing motor vehicles.

“So the longer you stay, the higher your concession for your motor vehicle,” Crawford said.

“We [also] propose that the Government speaks with the Students’ Loan Bureau for a programme of loan forgiveness for each year the teacher remains in the classroom”.

Former president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association Leighton Johnson, at the start of the 2023-24 academic year, told a general meeting of the Rotary Club of New Kingston, that “zeroing in on the last two years, Jamaica has lost approximately 10 per cent of its teachers to our overseas jurisdictions”.

In September last year, Education Minister Fayval Williams said a total of 854 teachers had resigned between January and September that year, a 44 per cent reduction, compared to the similar period in 2022.