Dear Editor,

We are not obstacles to be overcome, we are allies in the mission of nation-building. I speak not from defiance but from devotion. I am a teacher. I am an artist. I am a nurturer of minds.

Today, I am a voice for those who teach, shape, and serve in silence. The Jamaica Teaching Council Bill may be of good intent, but it threatens to gut the very soul of the teaching profession. This is no mere critique — this is a roar of recognition, a demand to stand up, speak out, and stop the betrayal of our educators.

Below I offer a structured reflection on some of the most alarming provisions:

1) The threat of criminalisation: To teach without a licence, regardless of experience or circumstance, may now carry a $500,000 fine or six months’ imprisonment. Are our teachers to be treated as lawbreakers for answering their calling.

2) Suspension without trial: Without even a completed investigation, a teacher’s licence and livelihood can be taken away. What of due process? What of innocent until proven guilty? Suspension should be the result of guilt, not suspicion.

3) Public shaming: Teachers names can be released. Our reputations damaged permanently before the dust of justice settles. A teacher’s honour built over years can be undone in a moment. What safety exists for the wrongly accused?

4) Subjective judgment: Who defines what ‘fit and proper’ means? Can passion be put on trial? Can a single mistake outweigh a career of service? We cannot allow ambiguity to govern justice.

5) Teachers absent from the table: How can we be ruled by a council that barely reflects us. Teachers must not only be seen, they must be heard. Policy without participation breeds resentment.

6) Lifetime of service yet no exemption: Veteran educators are forced to jump through the same hoops as novices. Where is the honour in that? Do years of devotion carry no weight?

7) Financial and emotional burdens: No clear government support is promised. How can underpaid teachers afford these new demands. Excellence cannot grow where exhaustion lives.

8) Council members protected from liability: But who defines ‘good faith’? If injustice is carried out with clean hands, does it become justice? There must be checks. There must be balance.

9) Absence of union influence. Unions exist to protect our collective voice yet we are left to face the council as individuals. This is not balance. This is vulnerability.

10) Surveillance culture: No complaint is needed to launch an investigation. Even without wrongdoing a teacher may live under the shadow of scrutiny. We do not teach well when we teach in fear. I ask: Are we so mistrusted as a profession that we must be policed, not empowered?

We do not oppose standards; we oppose silencing.

We do not fear accountability; we fear unfairness.

Again, we are not obstacles to be overcome; we are allies in the mission of nation-building. Let this Bill be reimagined with the wisdom of teachers at its core, not as subjects, but as partners; not in silence, but in solidarity.

Let our voices — seasoned, soulful, and sincere — be heard.

Shaniele Higgins

Educator, advocate, artist

shannhig03@gmail.com