The government of Jamaica confirmed on Monday, that an estimated 167 teachers had left their positions in the school system here over the past two months.
“Teachers, like everyone else, make very personal decisions to migrate and we are sorry to see them go but we respect their decisions…obviously resignations that would have happened in the last school year, we would have seen where many of those would have been filled and so those would not be in this number that I am quoting to you this morning,” Jamaica’s Education Minister Fayval Williams told a news conference.
“Of course, we are still getting information from our school principals and so this number (167) could change as we move towards the end of August and into September. The new school year begins on the 5th of September and even up to that time there may be resignations,” she added,
Williams, who was addressing teacher migration, told reporters that although the numbers may raise alarm, the situation is under control.
She said that the Ministry has implemented several strategies to mitigate any potential falling out from the mass migration and that 964 specialist teachers, who have just completed their studies, are now available for employment in the national school system.
