Harrison: Coming days will be telling for state of J’can classrooms
JTA president urges Gov’t to listen to educators’ concerns
Published:Wednesday | May 10, 2023 | 1:48 PMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President La Sonja Harrison says that if there is no favourable response to the organisation’s concerns about educators’ compensation negotiations, it will indicate that the Government intentionally provoked teachers’ recent protests over their salary packages.
Harrison was speaking on Sunday at the JTA’s annual Education Week church service at the St George’s Anglican Church in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland. The theme for this year’s Education Week celebration is ‘Advancing the Vision: Reigniting the Passion Through Equitable and Educational Opportunities’.
“It is imperative that the Government answers the call made in writing for the establishing of a technical committee, where representatives from the union, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Education are at the table to treat with these egregious matters and other anomalies, as well as the discrepancies arising from the compensation review. To turn a deaf ear could only lead one to conclude that the experienced outcomes were intended,” said Harrison.
In March, teachers from several schools across Jamaica staged sit-ins or called in sick to register their displeasure with the then compensation package being proposed by the Government. The educators declared that they would not be bullied into signing the wage deal amid a declaration that there would be no room in the Budget for the 2023-2024 financial year to pay retroactive sums.
Roughly 80 per cent of JTA delegates voted to accept a revised offer on March 12, days after a March 8 rejection of a previous proposal. The union signed a deal with the Government on March 13.
On Sunday, Harrison, who had reportedly objected to signing the agreement and left President-elect Leighton Johnson to put pen to paper, suggested that the education sector needs divine intervention to fix its current challenges.
“Educators contend with too much, and hence God’s continued grace and mercy must be sought. This is the Source, through which our passion for service is reignited, especially now in this climate of demotivation, stemming from the compensation restructuring exercise. Be encouraged, my colleagues. No matter is over until the Eternal Father says it is finished,” said Harrison.
“Celebrating the people who make the wheels of educational offerings turn in this nation is not only warranted but vital, and encouragement, they say, sweetens labour. The absence of same, in a tangible way, especially in recent times for some categories, namely the trained graduate with the post of special responsibility, is potentially crippling to the system,” Harrison added. “The coming days will be telling for the state of our Jamaican classrooms. It must be fixed if we are at all concerned as a nation about the current and future state of education.”