Don’t bow to snarling JTA

SO WHAT is a school principal to do when significant numbers of staff either frequently arrive late or, unexcused, miss sessions and even days of classes? And then when the attendance register is to be checked, it is either falsified or mysteriously lost.

But at the same time, students are being penalised for lack of punctuality and are encouraged (although they are not really) to come to school five days a week and stay the whole day – in class! Seriously now, how should a school leader reconcile that contradiction?

Well, the principals of about a quarter of all the high schools in Jamaica have taken the appropriate responsibility of purchasing thumbprint identification machines which, on application, associates the algorithm generated with the name of the specific staff member. That’s all.

Not intrusive, attached to any other system, not hackable like the photograph attached to everybody’s file. Completely distinct from the NIDS law, which would have denied lifeessential services if non-compliant. A workable solution accepted as routine by most; complained about by the same minority who gladly offer their entire handprint, footprint, eye scan and, if only required, their entire life history to the embassy or the recruiter of the foreign school.

I offer my thumbprint at The Gleaner’s Power 106 FM office every day because I want to work there and so must submit to being accountable, and must invest trust and show responsibility. What nonsense it would be to object.

But last week, the Ministry of Education, in abject subservience to the wailing of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), issued a

fatwa ordering this process to stop, suggesting nothing to solve the chronic problem of undisciplined and unaccountable staff, and effectively undermining the authority of principals and school boards in a binge of ministerial overreach.

The absurdity took on ludicrous proportions when it was asserted that to take a thumbprint could only be authorised by Cabinet – yes, the Cabinet. Being fully aware of the arguably archaic Fingerprint Act, why create a problem for every solution, and why not just insist instead that conscientious objectors be allowed an alternative, equally foolproof mode of compliance?

EFFECTIVE EDUCATION

In a society bent on effective education to yield disciplined, productive and compassionate Jamaicans, the disgrace of aberrant school personnel ought not even to arise. To who else must we look to set a good example? But nothing of that problem was on the agenda for discussion last week. We ended up discussing the wrong issue. Instead of siding with those who seek to curb slackness, Government kowtows to a trade union that shows no demonstrable interest in the effectiveness and accountability of its members.

It is time for a new definition of the shared responsibilities between school boards and the ministry. Boards, school owners and sponsors are not bagmen for government and hapless fundraisers, given the charade of ‘free’ education. They are responsible and, in many cases, semi-autonomous co-partners in the most sacred civic act in which citizens can engage – the education of the young.

Check the fact that most of the best-performing schools in Jamaica are church- and trust-owned institutions. They should require more respect and a new covenant with the State instead of being less-cared, and sometimes undermined, by administrations that live the conceit that they are all-powerful.

Upon my incumbency, I was told by a predecessor minister of education never to tangle with the JTA, as its influence could reek political destruction. He was right. The current administration is obviously of the same view. There is to be no problem with the union.

I contend that there will be no radical improvement of the education and training system without the transformation of the teaching profession. So what is this effort to undermine one of the most effective and transformative new institutions – the National College of Educational Leadership? And why stand in the way of earnest principals trying to culture accountability in their schools?