We must take back our country, says Isaacs
JTA’s past president agonises about killings of teachers, students
HWESTERN BUREAU: OWARD ISAACS, immediate past president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), is calling for initiatives to address the crime and violence that have led to the deaths of educators and students. He said that was one of the issues with which he had to wrestle during his tenure in the 2016-17 academic year.
Isaacs made the call in his address to educators, as outgoing president, at the JTA’s 53rd annual conference in Montego Bay on Monday night.
Georgia Waugh Richards was sworn in as the organisation’s 53rd president.
“One of the biggest concerns of my presidency was the number of students and colleagues we lost as a result of violence. Several times during my presidency, I stated repeatedly, that we need to address the twoheaded monster of crime and violence that permeates our society. We have to break its back, and we must get back our country,” said Isaacs.
The education sector was rocked by several violent incidents during the 2016-17 academic year, including the murder of 15year-old Green Pond High School student Shineka Gray in January this year and the shooting deaths of 16-year-old Muschett Comprehensive High School student Shanique Rose in April and 17-year-old Meadowbrook High School student Micholle Moulton earlier this month.
MUCH MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE
Isaacs also said that the health and wellness of teachers must be addressed, as some educators died during his tenure because of lifestyle illnesses.
“Lifestyle diseases took too many of our colleagues. We attended too many funerals, gave far too many tributes, and shed too many tears for our students and colleagues,” said Isaacs. “In 2016, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Health Fund, who supported many of our initiatives in this conference year, and started a comprehensive collection of information. Based on the feedback received, much more needs to be done.”
The JTA’s three-day conference was held under this year’s theme ‘Navigating the Education Land-scape: Transforming, Engaging, Collaborating, Facilitating and Leading’.
GEORGIA WAUGH Richards, the newly installed president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), is calling on the Government to include the cost of education for Jamaica’s children in the national budget.
She made the appeal to Education Minister Ruel Reid in her presidential address at the JTA’s 53rd annual conference in Montego Bay on Monday night.
“The time is right, Mr Minister, for us to face the truth about education funding. We need teachers to teach and administrators to lead. We therefore call upon our Ministry of Education and our Government to engage in research as to the real cost of educating one Jamaican child, and we ask that this research finding be a critical part of crafting the national Budget,” said Waugh Richards.
The JTA president said that, in many cases, teachers have to go beyond the call of duty to carry out their mandate of educating students.
“A typical day may require the teacher to remain after school to participate in committee meetings geared toward raising funds to bolster the funding given to us by the Ministry of Education,” said Waugh Richards. “We are not asking to be paid for every single task that we undertake, for our students’ interest and progress are foremost in our minds, but we want all of us to understand that, in the scheme of ‘value added’, this is what we do on a daily basis.”
Waugh Richards was sworn in as the JTA’s 53rd president, replacing immediate past president Howard Isaacs. She was also recognised as the 11th woman to take command of the JTA.
The JTA’s three-day conference, which is slated to end today, is being held under this year’s theme ‘Navigating the Education Landscape: Transforming, Engaging, Collaborating, Facilitating and Leading.’