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MEDIA RELEASE
March 10, 2026
JTA Rebukes Local Government Minister; Warns Continued School Shelters Threaten Student Safety and Education Recovery
The Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) is expressing profound concern and growing outrage at the recent public statements by the Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Hon Desmond McKenzie, regarding the continued housing of shelterees on school compounds and the Association's legitimate concerns.
The Minister’s utterances reflect a troubling failure to appreciate the duty of care owed to the nation’s children and to the educators who are entrusted with their safety and development. At a time when Jamaica’s education system is still struggling to recover from the devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa, such reckless commentary does not help the situation—it exacerbates it.
The JTA rejects outright any attempt to trivialize or dismiss the concerns of educators. Schools are not designed to function as prolonged emergency shelters, and the continued occupation of school compounds by shelterees is incompatible with the safe and orderly operation of our educational institutions.
The Minister must also be reminded that it was his own public declaration that shelterees would have been relocated from schools before the start of the new school term. That promise has clearly not been honoured. The continuing presence of shelterees on school compounds is therefore not the result of impatience or agitation on the part of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association; it is the direct result of the Ministry of Local Government's failure to meet its own stated timelines and commitments.
Instead of acknowledging this failure and demonstrating urgency in correcting it, the Minister has chosen to engage in rhetoric that appears calculated to undermine legitimate concerns and distract from the glaring shortcomings of his Ministry.
Let there be no misunderstanding: the Jamaica Teachers’ Association will not sit idly by while the safety of its members and the nation’s children is placed at risk.
The issue at hand is not merely an administrative inconvenience. It speaks directly to the conditions under which teachers are required to work and the duty of care owed to the thousands of students who occupy these institutions daily. As the recognised representative body for teachers across Jamaica, the JTA has both the right and the obligation to defend its members against unsafe and unacceptable working environments.
No amount of dismissive commentary can change the reality that the continued use of schools as shelters—months after the emergency phase has passed—raises serious safety concerns and undermines public confidence in the integrity of the education system.
The Minister’s comments have now significantly escalated an already tense situation. If the intention was to silence the concerns of teachers, then he has badly miscalculated. Instead, his statements have only strengthened the resolve of educators across the country who refuse to see their workplaces turned into emergency facilities indefinitely.
The Jamaica Teachers’ Association, therefore, calls on the Ministry of Local Government and the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) to immediately accelerate the relocation of all remaining shelterees from school compounds and bring this matter to a definitive and time-bound conclusion.
The continued failure to resolve this issue will leave the Association with no alternative but to intensify its response.
Teachers across Jamaica are rapidly losing confidence in the willingness of the responsible authorities to treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves. The Government must understand that educators cannot and will not continue to operate under conditions that compromise safety, dignity, and the proper functioning of schools.
If urgent and decisive action is not taken, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association will have to consider all available options to protect its members and the students entrusted to their care—including actions that could have serious implications for the normal operation of schools across the island.
The JTA remains open to dialogue. However, the responsibility for what follows will rest squarely with those who have chosen delay and dismissiveness over decisive leadership.
For further information you may contact:
Leaon Nash
Tele:876 874-8162
Admin Officer, Communication & Public Relations
Email: [email protected]
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