Where is the data?
Dear Editor,
I write in reference to a column written by Dujean Edwards published in the Jamaica Observer on July 26 titled ‘Educators exit in excess’.
I believe that educators like Dujean Edwards, adjunct lecturer at the University College of the Caribbean, (UCC), should understand that the reading public holds them to a higher standard than the man in the street. The man in the street will often present arguments which are not supported by verifiable data.
I don’t expect that approach from academics.
In his piece today he goes on and on about how teachers are fleeing local classrooms like the Israelites fled Egypt after hundreds of years of enslavement.
This analogy is bad on many levels.
First, the Israelites were enslaved people. Teachers are paid.
Second, the Israelites were freed in a mass exodus, everyone left at the same time. All the teachers have never left the local education system at the same time.
In fact, Ministry of Education statistics show that only about 5 per cent of teachers leave the education sector each year.
There are about 26,000 teachers in the schools. That should be an easy enough calculation for anyone.
The “2023 exodus” Edwards says is different from all other times. Okay, so where is the accurate data to substantiate this claim?
To predict that come September schools will be plunged into chaos because of an unprecedented teacher shortage without providing any testable data to support the claim, as Edwards did, tells me that he is talking off the top of his head. This does not inspire confidence at all.
He rebuffs Education Minister Fayval Williams for saying there is no crisis, but he does not present any provable data. Minister Williams presented data to back up her case.
I was saddened by the old generalities and trite narration in his article. He seems to be stoking panic. If that is his objective, he should at least have justified data.
Clayton Brown
Retired college lecturer.
Claytonbrown768@yahoo.com
