THE EDITOR, Sir:
I WRITE during this education week, this week when we celebrate Teachers Day, to congratulate the Jamaica Teachers Association and the Govern-ment of Jamaica on the wonderful salary package that, after years of negotiation, they have managed to work out in the best interests of teachers.
I wonder why they have not yet presented us with the present. After all, what better time to do it than in a week like this when the focus is on education? A week which began with the government's proclamation of their accomplishments in education. These accomplishments, on paper, look great but those of us who are intimate with the system know that that's the only place where they look great; the reality is a stark contrast.
The same is true of the new salary package. I gather that teachers will earn a whopping six hundred dollars more (or is it four hundred dollars more?) per month. But the details are sweeter, now the material and equipment allowance and uniform allowance, paltry as they are, are to be taxed. A wonderful package indeed! Our new salary package will ensure that we are able to keep pace with the increases in electricity, telephone services, bus fares, etc., with which we are faced on a daily basis! I hope that the grapevine is wrong! I hope that this is not really going to be the case. But then, what can we expect?
This government gives priority treatment to education. A bigger chunk of the budget is allotted to education than to any other sector. Education is a valuable resource. How else can we explain the overcrowded classrooms, notwithstanding talks of an ideal, idyllic ratio? How else can we rationalise those schools in which students exist in unsanitary conditions? Of course these are not broadcast or published in the Gazette. We only hear of the innovations, the upgrading, the new programmes and the improved results in the system.
And who should we credit with the improved results of students? The government of course! Should any of the credit be bestowed on the classroom teachers who slavishly attempt to inculcate positive values and attitudes and impart knowledge to a generation that has no respect for education and whose interests are anywhere but in the classroom? Of course not. We can blame teachers for violence in schools, indiscipline, poor performance and everything that is wrong with the system.
And guess what? This vicious cycle will continue. Although I maintain that if one has taken on the mantle of teaching, he ought to teach to the best of his ability, giving full one hundred per cent on a daily basis, one can understand why some teachers become demotivated and disheartened and spend some of the time which they could devote to students affairs pursuing other avenues through which they can augment their income.
Have a happy Teachers Day, teachers, notwithstanding.
I am, etc.,
ERICA GORDON
17 Midway Ave.,
May Pen, Clarendon
