MORE than 400 teachers have resigned from the public school system in the past 11 days with a big chunk of that number submitting their resignations after collecting their August salary last Friday.

But the main union which represents them, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), is not supporting this sudden resignation which it accepts could lead to chaos when the new school year begins on Monday.

JTA President Leighton Johnson is urging his colleagues to follow the rules if they plan to resign, even as he backs their right to do what they think is best for themselves and their families.

“Article 57, Regulation B does indicate that teachers are to give the due notice; however, in a system where it is difficult to police this particular regulation, I think now what we need to do is to ensure that systems are put in place — not to prevent teachers from exercising their franchise of choice — but just to ensure that teachers will do the right thing,” Johnson told the Jamaica Observer.

He argued that in many instances teachers grab the opportunity late or move at the spur of the moment as opportunities are presented to them.

However, Johnson was adamant that teachers need to do the right thing in all occasions “to ensure that as they make the conscious decision to secure their families future, they consider ensuring that the position they are leaving, or the school they are leaving will not be left in a position of chaos”

According to Johnson, the JTA is not surprised by the rash of resignations which has seen the number of teachers leaving the public school system jump from 427 on August 18 to 854 on August 29.

“The writing has been on the wall [so] this comes as no surprise to us. The recruiters have [been] vigilant and buoyant in our country and the teachers have indicated, for a very long time, that our compensation package was not adequate for them to continue to live like this.

“We saw this coming, we constantly echoed the call to the Minister of Education [Fayval Williams] that we have heard, our ears being on the ground, was that several teachers have already taken up positions in schools in other jurisdictions,” Johnson told the Observer Wednesday morning, minutes after the education minister had provided the latest numbers on teacher resignations.

Addressing a post-Cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House, Williams reiterated that 1,538 teachers resigned from the public school system between January and September 2022 as she gave the latest figure for the corresponding period this year.

Williams underscored that the practice of teachers resigning without notice was unprofessional and pointed to the law which requires teachers in permanent positions to give three month’s notice, and those in temporary or acting positions to give one month’s notice.

“Teachers who give three month’s notice and continue to work, of course they will be paid, they are not denied their payment. If that happened to some long ago in the past, that is not happening now, and so we are asking teachers who make their personal decisions to resign to be mindful of the legal requirements that are here,” said Williams.

“Obviously getting notice here, a few days before…school opens, I can fully understand the uncertainty of our principals, [and] our boards across Jamaica, but that is why, two, three weeks ago, we sent to our schools a number of different strategies for them to use to help with the recruitment process,” said Williams as she reiterated the measures the ministry has implemented to address the shortage of teachers in schools.

These include allowing school boards to conduct early recruiting of teachers to fill any vacancies, permission to engage some teachers who are on approved vacation leave and paying them for the period while also paying them for their vacation, the extension of service of teachers who are scheduled to retire, and the provision for schools to engage part-time teachers or those who had retired since January 2018.

Williams noted that despite the recent flood of resignations there is a high of 3,119 and a low of 1,693 teachers available to enter the public school system their year.

“I know it’s not easy…when school is going to reopen next Monday to recruit, but we came out with these strategies well ahead of time, our job bank is available, so we anticipated that again this year we would witness teachers resigning without giving…the legal notice that is required,” said Williams as she thanked the stakeholders for the work they did last year despite the resignation of more than 1,500 teachers.