A key feature of the bill is the establishment of a council that will have the responsibility to regulate the sector and issue licences to teachers.

It was recently passed in the Senate, and it is set to go before the House of Representatives.

Smith, addressing a church service to mark the start of Education Week, urged the Government to address what he called significant flaws with the bill.

“The JTA, after two decades of advocacy on this bill, feels betrayed, as the bill in its present form demonstrates no meaningful effort to address the critical concerns raised by the teachers of Jamaica,” he said.

“The teachers have been agitating for meaningful change, we’re not against professionalising the teaching service, we support it, but we believe that the approach being taken is heavy-handed,” the JTA president added.
Smith argued that the bill seems more geared towards implementing punitive sanctions and taking control of the profession away from teachers.

“We embrace any bill that embraces the concept of empowering teachers and giving them agency over their own profession. The JTA will continue to advocate unapologetically for the teachers to have greater agency and administration over their profession, as is the case with all other professional regulatory bodies in Jamaica.”

Smith said the JTA stands ready to take all possible actions to go against the bill.

“This bill must not be passed in its current form; the teachers of Jamaica will not accept what we consider a betrayal!”