Theme: “Standing with Teachers: 60 Years of Protecting the Profession, Advancing its Status, and Shaping Our Futures.”

Warm greetings to you my colleagues across this island nation Jamaica, regionally and internationally. Today we pause to celebrate the work and worth of teachers globally even in the face of some 44m shortage of our kind worldwide. Are we becoming an endangered species? We pray not and resist same in all shape and forms. Guided by the theme “Standing with Teachers: 60 Years of Protecting the Profession, Advancing its Status, and Shaping our Futures,” we are emboldened in the face of several crises to continue in the struggle. 

We celebrate our victories, small wins and moments of solidarity cognizant of issues including but not limited to: lack of parity in wages for members of both sexes, exclusion of girls from classrooms, colleagues working and not being paid, poor or inadequate infrastructure in which learning is expected and negative impact of changes within the environment on education, resulting in less than acceptable recovery efforts to restore schools to a semblance of normalcy, among others.

Colleagues, may we continue to stand together! Be unrelenting in our advocacy and action to effect the change we need. As we speak with one voice, march to the same beat, we recall our recent stance with the Guyana Teachers’ Union even as we launch a rallying call in Jamaica “Reformation Now: Schools Jamaican Children Deserve.” Times are changing and rapidly so. The digital age undoubtedly is having a far-reaching impact on education and the young  impressionable minds of our children. We must resolve that this must never replace the role of the teacher, even as there are advancing agendas to so do. Jamaican children, dare we say children across the world, deserve the physical presence of teachers in their classrooms even as teachers include the use of technology to enhance the delivery of their lessons. Our unity in this and other causes will result in our advancing the status of our profession and safeguarding the future we can all appreciate.

Thank you, my colleagues, that despite these negatives, you who have chosen to stay the course, remain dedicated and committed to the greater cause of nation building. 

Your goal remains that of honing Jamaica’s greatest asset, our human resource, our children. May the Eternal Father with whom this nation has a covenantal relationship, continually bless, strengthen, and encourage your hearts as well as enlarge your territories.

Be assured colleagues that the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, your Union remains steadfast, unwavering to join with our international partners: the Caribbean Union of Teachers (CUT), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA) and Education International (EI), among others, to continue the agitation that will ensure educators remain central to the conversation regarding the reformation of education. Locally, as we lead this discussion in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders, germane to this conversation must be: an established screen time policy for students; funding education, to include better resourcing of schools for the provision equitable access for ALL Jamaican children; as well as, a livable remuneration package for us as practitioners. These and other issues such as fixing early childhood education and giving adequate attention to our schools’ infrastructure are critical, as the learning condition of the student is the working condition of the teacher. Hence, my colleagues we continue with a meticulous eye to monitor and participate in the discourse concerning the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) Bill along with other policy directives that will result in paradigm shifts in our educational landscape. We must demand “Reformation Now: Rebuilding a Resilient Education System Buoyed by the eternal Father and Unrelenting Unionism.”

Celebrate yourselves today my colleagues, and your sacrificial service to nation building, as together, we continue our labour of love to ensure Jamaica’s original mandate is fulfilled, “that Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity and play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race”. Understand and appreciate the enormity of our calling in the fact that the transformation of education indeed begins with us, even as we celebrate our worth and work. 

Let us continue to Unite and Serve.