SCORES OF teachers from across the island were honoured yesterday by the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), for each giving more than 35 years service at the primary and secondary level of the education system.
The 235 teachers honoured beamed with pride as they made their way to the podium to collect their Golden Torch awards at the ceremony held at the Hilton Kingston Hotel.
Stanley Skeene, principal of May Day High and a recipient, noted in his reply on behalf of the teachers that the awards were an encouragement to continue doing effective and successful work.
"Too often our work and worth go unnoticed. We are grateful to the Jamaica Teachers' Association for this reward and this recognition," he said.
Dahlia Ashmeade, a teacher at St. Andrew High who served for 55 years, received $55,000 from the Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica (BNS), for being the longest serving teacher of the group.
The Golden Torch award was initiated in 1993 and is presented annually to over 100 educators who are still serving the profession after 35 years. Up to last year over 1,000 teachers had received the award.
SEVERAL PROBLEMS
William Clarke, managing director of the BNS, who was guest speaker at the function, commended the teachers for their efforts but noted that there were several problems in the system that needed to be addressed.
"We need to point a national spotlight on what we can do to improve our educational system," he said.
Turning the spotlight on parents first, he said they needed to set the foundation for their children's education. He said many parents needed to pay greater attention to their children's performance and attendance at school.
He also expressed his support for performance-based pay, where teachers would receive compensation based on results. He also suggested that an under-performance system accompany the performance based pay system, to allow teachers who do not meet the required standard to improve.
He added that if these teachers still fell below standard, they should be removed from the system. The Government was also chided for not allocating enough of the budget to education. The private sector was encouraged to contribute more to schools, especially to children from needy families. "We are hearing a discourse attacking the character of a person who is unable to defend himself or herself," Senator Johnson barked. "I don't know who the person is, but I do not think that it is the place where we have been discussing this matter in terms of the ideas, the philosophies, the principles and above all the history."
He added that the debate should not be aimed at quoting individuals and using statements they may have made to "lay claim that they are accepting jobs and so forth and so on."
A seething Senator Johnson said: "That is the kind of dirty politics that people look down upon politicians for."
In the ensuing furore, the Opposition members walked out of the Chamber, leaving Senator Franklyn to look across at an empty Opposition bench, and the Government Senators to pass the Bill with three amendments and 13 affirmative votes.
