I will not return to teach in government schools

Dear Pastor,

I am now on pre-retirement leave after teaching at a prestigious school in Kingston. I taught mathematics at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination levels and got 100 per cent passes for almost all years. I literally begged the school to allow me to go off on leave rather than wait until September.

The only way that the government can prevent teachers from leaving Jamaica is to provide higher wages and benefits. The USA, Canada, Japan, England and other countries pay teachers better wages.

I recently started to operate a private school and I will never return to assist government schools. I teach online and face-to-face and earn good money, which the government could not afford to pay. I teach students locally and overseas.

I will send my school flyers for the USA, Canada and England and seek your support. I start from grade nine, but will bend my back and teach grade eight.

The government created this crisis and will have to import teachers from China, Cuba, Haiti, Ukraine or other countries to solve the problem.

P. H.

Dear P.H.,

I congratulate you for the contribution you have made and are still making to education. I am sure that many of the people you have taught will always be grateful to you. People do not forget good teachers. Regardless of what position they have reached in society, people talk about their teachers.

I need not say much about the government and the relationship it has now with the teachers. Some teachers will leave and some will go abroad. Those who leave have good reasons for doing so, and those who stay also have good reasons for staying. Some will say that the salaries that teachers receive are too small and others would say that the conditions under which they work need improvement.

I wish you well as you continue to do your part in the field of education. My prayers are with you.

Pastor