Closer Monitoring of Migrating Teachers and Nurses

Jamaican teachers and nurses migrating to developed countries to assume job opportunities presented to them by foreign educators, are to be monitored more closely by the Government.
Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman has revealed that Cabinet has granted approval for the country’s “participation in a trade and development project for the managed movement of teachers and nurses in the Caribbean”.
The project, Minister Whiteman explained, was a collaborative effort among Caribbean countries that collectively, are concerned about the issue of migration of its health and educational professionals to foreign shores.
He was speaking at a post Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House yesterday (October 25).
“The idea is that out of the initial work done on this project, gathering statistical data, developing a design and conducting feasibility studies, and building consensus both within the developing countries and the developed countries, that there will be a better understanding and a better commitment to a structured programme that will benefit the host country and the country from which the teachers and nurses go,” Mr. Whiteman said.
Called the ‘Trade and Development Project for the Managed Movement of Teachers and Nurses in the Caribbean’, it is being funded and implemented by the Commonwealth Secretariat.
The Minister said that in executing the project, the Government was placing particular emphasis on the realities of the health and education sectors in the countries of the Caribbean, from which the teachers leave.
“That is to say, while it is a win-win situation that is expected, proper analysis will be done as to the impact of this movement on the countries, that at the moment, are training the teachers for migration,” Senator Whiteman explained.
Senator Whiteman said that in advance of the project’s implementation, consultations have been held with the Jamaica Teachers’ Association and the Nurses Association of Jamaica.
Outlining the good points of having a structured project to oversee the two professions, Minister Whiteman said, “what is being identified is that the migration of teachers and nurses is not in and of itself, necessarily negative, but proper provisions must be made that both the receiving countries and the countries from which the professionals migrate, receive some benefit.”