'Recovery Begins with Teachers'

If you ask most students to describe their teachers, you would probably get a list of words that range from 'helpful' to 'dreadful'.

These are descriptions that overall culminate in students having a hard time viewing teachers as the average citizen outside the classroom.

However, as part of today's celebration of World Teachers' Day, the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA) is helping to put a human face on all teachers showing that they are more than just educators in a classroom, but people who go through everyday crises as well.

"The JTA will officially open a counselling centre at our headquarters on World Teachers' Day," JTA President Nadine Molloy told The Gleaner yesterday. "The purpose of this centre is to reach out to teachers who are traumatised. We have seen teachers who are victims of violence at school, victims of violence in their community, teachers who have lost loved ones and teachers who have emotional problems who need help."

Molloy added: "We want to help with any kind of an emotional need that affects them not only as a teacher, but also affects them as a person."

The opening of the counselling centre is in keeping with this year's theme for World Teachers' Day: 'Recovery Begins with Teachers', which acknowledges teachers who have been hit by a major crisis, such as natural disaster or the global economic crisis.

Critical element

When the devastating earthquake shook Haiti in January, the JTA was instrumental in assisting the recovery efforts and in helping to get its Haitian counterpart back to work.

"Our teachers drive the development of any country and they are a critical element in our society because they educate and nurture young minds," Molloy said of the value of teachers to society.

Since October 5, 1994, the world has celebrated the essential role teachers play in society. To this end, Rosemarie Vernon, chairman of the Education Committee of the Jamaica National Committee for UNESCO, saluted all teachers for their work over the past year and lauded their abilities to inspire those "under their tutelage and unleash their full potential".

Said Molloy: "Teachers, you have the power to create a society in which our citizens can be properly prepared for life because education is still the process through which rational beings acquire their beliefs. Teachers continue to liberate and empower your students."