PORT MARIA, St Mary — In an effort to help male educators cope with the challenges of the profession, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) will be hosting a conference to offer guidance on everything, from finances to deportment.

“We want to work on our males, so we don’t have any news about any male teacher being charged by CISOCA (Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse) or any other agency,” JTA President Winston Smith told the recent annual general meeting of the St Mary Teachers’ Association.

In May, a 24-year-old teacher was charged by the St Ann Criminal Investigations Branch with one count of buggery, indecent assault, and grievous sexual assault. A police report said the teacher got involved in a relationship with a 15-year-old male student at a school in the parish and indulged in sex acts at a hotel, allegedly with another minor.

Also that month, a Clarendon teacher was taken into police custody after a 14-year-old girl who had been reported missing was found at his home in the parish. The educator had reportedly been employed at a primary school before being employed at a high school.

Under Jamaican law, a person under the age of 16 cannot legally engage in sexual intercourse or any related sexual activity.

Educators, Smith said at the recent meeting, have to be extra careful as their actions are greatly scrutinised.

“The least little things happen to teachers, everything makes big headlines, and when politicians do worse than that, nobody doesn’t hear that,” said Smith.

“We have to bring our men into a conference to share with them and to help to understand how to plan for their finances, look at their professional life, deportment, and mannerisms and get them ready for leadership and be good role models in the schools,” he added.

The JTA president also lauded women who support their male peers.

“We have to help our males to understand how to navigate the [teaching] space. And one of the things I have asked my educational research committee to do is commission a survey to identify the partners of men who are educators. Because, anecdotally, most of the men in education are with either a teacher, a nurse, or police and we applaud you ladies because you are quality women. We celebrate you and we thank God for you,” said Smith.

“The struggle is real for a man in teaching. We have to help our males — guide them, mould them,” he said.

– Davia Ellis