EDITORIAL - You should worry, Mr Thwaites

Ronnie Thwaites seems unconvinced that he has firm backing from either his party or prime minister, Julian Robinson's suggestion to the contrary notwithstanding.

So, Mr Thwaites, the education minister, felt compelled to insist to this newspaper that he had cleared his teacher-reform proposals with the Cabinet before unveiling them in Parliament last month. Although he may not have been tossed fully to the wolves, Mr Thwaites does have cause for concern in the face of what happened at last weekend's meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the People's National Party (PNP).

Delegates, including Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, scrambled to identify with teachers. There was no open display of support for the education minister.

The message that is likely to have been transmitted to the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) is that Mr Thwaites is isolated in the Cabinet over his decision to reduce their holiday entitlement and paid study leave, while demanding that they perform better in the classrooms.

That signal, of course, wasn't only sent on Tuesday. In a waffling performance weeks ago, the de facto information minister, Sandrea Falconer, left the impression that Mr Thwaites could be off on a frolic of his own design.

Ludicrous holiday package

Yet what Mr Thwaites is doing is eminently sensible and ought to have the unequivocal support of the Cabinet.

It is ludicrous that teachers should enjoy up to 50 days' holiday - or a quarter of the school year - annually, outside of the breaks for summer, Christmas, Easter, and so on. Nor is it affordable that teachers should automatically get a year's study leave with pay - and another one without - even if their courses do not relate to their jobs. Nor can taxpayers afford the $2.5 billion required to pay substitute teachers, who cover for those who go off for extended periods.

These figures do not square with a country in economic crisis, with a debt that is a time and a half the value of annual national output, whose collection of taxes is insufficient to service the debt and pay public-sector wages and has to call on the International Monetary Fund for an economic support agreement. In other words, Jamaica is being kept afloat with external support and has to bring order to its financial affairs.

Yet, teachers would wish to maintain these perquisites, and more, without being held accountable for the outcomes of Jamaican schools, which empirical data show are abysmal.

CELEBRATING TEACHERS

We do not deny, as Mrs Simpson Miller says, that teachers contribute to national development, or that she would not be "standing here as leader" of what she called "a noble movement" without the "contribution of my teachers".

But there is something else to ponder. About a third of the cohort entering high schools drop out by grade nine. Only half make it to the secondary school examinations at grade 11, and of those who do, only 16 per cent manage to pass five subjects at a single sitting.

Of course, we want to celebrate teachers. They should give us cause to, starting with embrace of Mr Thwaites' reform.

The minister must not be left adrift by his Government or tethered only by words spoken from both sides of its mouth. If he believes in what he is doing, Mr Thwaites should be prepared to jump.

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.