SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Days after the education ministry urged the Jamaica Teachers’ Association to provide specific examples of issues its members are having in the wake of the controversial compensation review, some educators in Westmoreland have answered that call. They have also suggested ways in which some problems can be resolved.

Ranging from trained graduates to senior teachers, they spoke freely with the Jamaica Observer after a JTA parish meeting held at Sean Lavery Hall in Westmoreland last Thursday.

Aneisha Hilton, who has been teaching at the Savanna-la-Mar Inclusive Infant Academy since 2019, said she has been receiving less than five per cent of the retroactive payment she is due. She also complained that she has not seen the salary increase after the review. She said she has been dialoguing with the relevant parties in the MOE to get the issues resolved.

Another trained graduate of Mount Airy Primary & Infant School, Sivena Myers said she is yet to receive her retroactive pay as well as her salary for the month of May. She told the Observer that she consulted the Ministry of Education and was told that the 503 forms were late.

Myers is also unhappy with the compensation review process, saying her salary has decreased by two per cent in the aftermath.

Also among those with concerns about the outcome of the review was JTA Westmoreland Chapter president-elect, Godfrey Drummond.

Like other teachers with a master’s degree, Drummond said he has lost money as a result of changes made under the review. Before the changes, he explained, attaining a master’s degree translated into three upward increments on the salary scale. After the realignment those increments were initially cut; but after the JTA intervened they were advised one of the three would be allowed next year. Before the change, when all three were allowed he would have received an $8,000 increase. Now he stands to lose $3,000, Drummond said.

“We are saying that when we are studying we never wait or take time off. [It] is an incentive for our hard work, building the educational capacity of the country. We think that it is a disincentive for us to have to wait two years to get back that increment. And it is not the three increments that we used to get; we are getting just one increment,” stated Drummond.

“We are saying that the Ministry of Finance needs to reconsider, and have that back on the books as soon as possible, and to return the three increments that we used to get,” he urged.

While the sum was always modest, he noted, teachers welcomed it as recognition of their efforts to pursue higher education.

“The Minister of Finance [Dr Nigel Clarke] did say he wanted to retain the brightest minds in the various fields so I think that incentive will return some amount of normalcy,” said Drummond who described its removal as an injustice to teachers.

For senior teacher at Petersfield High School Terrence Brown, his concern is the “too wide” gap in salary between a trained graduate and those who are in charge of an institution. He acknowledged the importance of both parties but suggested that a better approach would have been to adjust the income tax threshold.

“The only way I can justify this level of increase is if Nigel Clarke goes back to Parliament and changes the threshold from $1.5 million to $2.5 million so that some of our money won’t be taxed. That is the only way, because inflation is taking it away,” reasoned Brown.

A similar concern was shared by another teacher who has served the education system for almost 18 years and asked not to be named. She has an issue with the salary of an entry-level trained teacher compared to senior teachers. The senior teacher is currently at level three and in a position of responsibility.

“When I look at my salary, I take home $220,000. When I look at somebody just entering the system, for example my niece, she takes home $185,000. That is a difference of $35,000. My concern is that the gap is too close,” she said, adding that before the review the gap had been $63,000.

“Had the gap remained the same, I would have felt better,” said the teacher.

“It is very discouraging based on where supermarket prices are now,” she added.

Among other complaints raised by educators was the removal of the book allowance, amounting to approximately $15,000, which they said the JTA fought hard to have implemented more than a decade ago. An incentive to retain teachers in schools located in remote areas, called remote inducement, was also reportedly removed. That, they said, is between $8,000 and $10,000 per month, per teacher.

Last Tuesday the MOE described as “blatantly false” a claim by president of the Westmoreland Chapter of the JTA, Kerry Ann Wolliston that a teacher in that parish had been paid $6.68 as salary in March. It also urged JTA President La Sonja Harrison to provide the specifics of any teacher’s situation so the matters can be researched and addressed as needed. At a post-Cabinet press briefing a day later, Minister of Education Fayval Williams vowed to tackle critics head-on, and again referenced what she said were cases where it appeared that the JTA head was being misinformed.

However last Thursday Harrison stood her ground, telling the Observer, “If every teacher should come out and tell their story, Jamaica would be in for a rude awakening.” The JTA Westmoreland’s Wolliston also appeared to be suggesting that the numbers she provided were accurate. However, she did not supply supporting documents.