HUNDREDS of teachers, some of them openly griping about how badly they were being treated by the Government, turned up at the Courtleigh Hotel in St. Andrew yesterday for a seminar recruiting teachers to work in schools in the United States.
However, there are only 30 positions to be filled.
The gathering provided an opportunity to collaboratively bash the Government as the teachers pouted and grumbled about how they are being treated. Many spoke out, although some were unwilling to give their names.
"I would leave if I get the chance," said teacher, Paulette Gayle. "We are not getting good salaries, Government not supporting us, parents not respecting us."
"I wouldn't feel bad about leaving this country, I don't think this country is good to me, we have done everything for our country and how do they treat us?" asked another teacher who did not want his name published.
Two sessions were held at the Courtleigh, both were so packed that teachers were crowded into corners or sprawled on floors. They were responding to advertisements in the newspapers last week.
The seminar was hosted by a representative of the Visiting International Faculty Pro-gramme (VIF), a U.S.-based non-governmental organisation, recognised by the U.S. State Department. VIF is here independent of the Jamaican Government.
"I didn't think we would have had such a response I was expecting 100 people the most to turn out, we want 30 people now it looks like 80," exclaimed VIF representative, Maria Carazo.
She said VIF is recruiting in the Caribbean for the first time and had visited the Bahamas but did not receive such a large response.
VIF runs a cultural exchange which is based on a belief "that every school should have an international teacher," according to their Web site. They recruit teachers from countries all over the world including Argentina, England and South Africa.
Qualified teachers in mathematics, special education, foreign languages, elementary education and English as a special language are being sought to teach five to 18 year-old students in eight American states.
"We are looking for people for New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, California...they will serve for three years and then they must come back to their country," Ms. Carazo said.
Candidates are required to have a minimum of three years teaching experience at the primary or secondary level and to hold a university degree. Those accepted to the programme will get a salary and package valued at more than J$1 million per year.
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They make the world so hard
As we continue to neglect our teachers we will see the repercussion in the next generation of Jamaicans. As seems to be the case in other areas we tend to be short sighted and look at things with a NO PROBLEM attitude
