Education Sector Will Not be Inundated with Teachers from Overseas – Minister Williams

In a bid to allay concerns regarding the Government’s plans to recruit foreign teachers in the island’s schools, Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, is assuring stakeholders that the sector will not be inundated with educators from overseas.

Mrs. Williams, who was addressing the Jamaica Teacher’s Association (JTA) 60th Annual Conference at Ocean Coral Spring Resort in Trelawny on Wednesday (August 21), pointed out that the recruitment of teachers from overseas is not a new concept.

“In our education system, over many decades, we have had teachers from other countries in our classrooms. Many of us sitting here can recall teachers who taught us English and other subjects coming from other countries,” the Minister said.

“It’s not as if we are going to be inundating the sector. Currently, we do have teachers from other countries in the system. We do have Cuban teachers, and it’s not just Spanish that they teach; they do teach other subjects as well,” she pointed out.

Mrs. Williams added that the sector currently has some 75 Cuban teachers, while 15 educators are from other countries.

She explained that the move to recruit educators from overseas is to urgently fill existing gaps in the sector, adding that the decision was not a unilateral one.

“When we look at the new teachers coming into the system, there are gaps in subject areas. We went around, spoke to Principals, we talked about the option, and they expressed an interest in having such an option available to them,” the Minister outlined.

“[The recruitment] is more of a surgical insertion for those gaps that I know we need to fill [within] our own system, but it will take some time to do,” Mrs. Williams stated.

The JTA’s conference was held from August 19 to 21.