Education and Youth Minister Fayval Williams has said discussions remain ongoing relative to the recruitment of overseas teachers to fill the vacancies created by the resignation of local teachers from the public school system.
Since Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Kasan Troupe, revealed that stakeholders from Ghana and the Philippines had expressed interest in sending their educators to Jamaica, some local educators have expressed concern about the proposal.
The Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) has been the loudest in expressing concerns about the potential move by the ministry.
At a post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, Williams said Cuban teachers are the only overseas teachers currently recruited by the ministry ahead of the 2024-2025 academic year.
“To date, we only have the usual cadre of Cuban teachers and others that were in the system before. There has not been any new recruitment of teachers from other countries,” said Williams.
“There have been talks; there have been discussions, but our systems continue now as we speak today (Wednesday) to have the same countries that we always had,” she indicated.
A total of 29 new Cuban teachers began their orientation last week to formally work in the local education sector.
Seventeen of the teachers are to be assigned to teach Spanish at primary schools across the island, while 11 are to be deployed to secondary schools, and one at the tertiary level.
