Letter of the Day | Teachers don’t have a choice but to leave

THE EDITOR, Sir:

There are some questions which we need to think about. Why are our teachers still leaving? Has the Ministry of Education and Youth (MOEY) planted any seeds of optimism? Why are the teachers’ salaries not paid on time?

Whether or not we want to admit it, the harsh realities that teachers face are no new narratives for the ministry to empathise with, and that is what is most disconcerting. Our teachers have to haplessly endure the day-to-day challenges from aggressive students, difficult colleagues, disrespectful administrators and personal hardships, only to be told that their salaries (stipends) will be late? How can we be comfortable with this slack behaviour of the ministry?

We pretend as though teachers do not have a life like everyone else, and we need to do better for them.

The MOEY released a statement that the salaries were late this month because of glitches in the system, which always seems to be the case whenever they blunder. This is a cause for concern. There are cases where some teachers have not been paid for over three months and some for even a year. Are we comfortable with the fact that teachers have to be supplicating for their hard-earned money?

This situation demands an urgent intervention by the Government to put an end to this madness because our teachers are the backbone of our society and, without them, there is no future. When we continue to treat teachers with insolence, neglect and total disregard for the hard work that they are doing, what then do we expect them to do? You cannot expect to have the teachers working for unreasonable hours under extreme circumstances and not pay them what they deserve, and, importantly, not pay them on time. They will leave, and if this is an alternative to be considered, then by all means.

There is a notion that teachers are only doing what they do for the salary and this makes me worry. Is there no empathy left in this country? Teachers are receiving what would be called a stipend, not a salary. Even with this knowledge, we will still make ourselves believe that teachers are being paid a lot of money. It is a disgrace to see that a job that is so physically demanding and mentally draining is one of the least rewarding. Teachers are literally living from a hand-to-mouth situation every month. Those who are aware of this situation and are comfortable with it, are not giving any hope to the teachers. Teachers are getting the short end of the stick, which is causing them to leave and migrate. This exodus has undoubtedly been contributing to the perpetual failure of our students. We have come to a point that teachers do not have any other choice. I encourage all teachers to jump on that plane if you can and don’t continue to be exploited and being treated as if you are worthless. To live a better life, we have to unfortunately leave this oppressive and disheartening system.

JOVAINE REID