EDITORIAL - Can the JTA rescue itself?

They have done the right thing at the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA). Unfortunately, nothing good will come of it, unless the trauma of recent times will cause the teachers' union to engage in deep introspection. On that we would advise no one to hold his breath.

Our expectation, therefore, is that when the JTA members vote later this month, Doran Dixon will emerge as president-elect, to take over the leadership of the organisation for the 2014-2015 administrative year. In the interim, he will be a very influential voice in the JTA, second in order of precedence to the incoming president, Dr Mark Nicely.

There is nothing in Mr Dixon's utterances or actions - neither now nor during his previous, unremarkable tenure as its head - that suggests he can provide the thoughtful, transformative leadership the JTA so desperately needs if it is to be a credible partner in the rescue of the failing education system.

While the four other presidential contenders may be less crass and crude than Mr Dixon in their attempt to vitiate Education Minister Ronald Thwaites' reasonable reform proposals, their platform, like Mr Dixon's, is essentially to hit the taxpayers for more money. Teacher accountability and performance-based remuneration have no, or little, place in it.

But beyond Mr Dixon's lack of decorum, the JTA was wrong to remove him from the slate of candidates. His reinstatement is putting the association back on the right side of justice.

Mr Dixon's removal, apparently on the recommendation of the association's Credentials Committee, came after he referred to Mr Thwaites as a mongrel dog, and refused to apologise. He subsequently insinuated the same idea by invoking a popular song about dogs in an address to teachers.

BREACH OF NATURAL JUSTICE

First, the action seems to be a breach of the JTA articles of association. But more fundamentally, it was, to us, in breach of natural justice and the principles of democracy. Mr Dixon was not given a chance to defend himself in the councils of the JTA before the action was taken.

In any event, in this uncomfortable, and often contrarian, business of democracy, it is the right of the electors to pronounce on Mr Dixon's candidacy, before whom his critics - of which this newspaper is numbered - should make their case.

It speaks volumes about the state of the JTA, and what it has become, that Mr Dixon, in all likelihood, will receive the majority of the votes from the 24,000 eligible electors.

Over many years, the JTA has abrogated its responsibility for leadership in education, including those parts of its memorandum of association that commit it to promote "the educational interest of the country" and to "aid the achievement and maintenance of high professional, ethical and moral standards among all its membership". The Dixon matter, in this context, is small beer.

The teachers' union seems unashamed and seems to believe that its members have no responsibility for the fact that only 16 per cent of the cohort can pass five subjects, including maths and English, at a single sitting at the end of their high-school career. Nor does it believe that teachers have any accounting for the fact that after a fifth of high-school students drop out of grade nine, of those who remain, half are screened out of the CXC exams.

What the teachers want are Pied Pipers, like Doran Dixon, to lead them to the pinching of taxpayers' pockets.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.