Diploma-trained teacher *Samantha Reid loves the classroom, but she feels her passion for teaching has come at a high cost, as her current salary cannot finance her four children, and efforts to upgrade herself have left her broke.
Reid’s net salary is $106,000 monthly, and from that, she is repaying three loans that were taken from loan sharks to, among other things, finance her studies at the Mico University College, where she is in her final year of the programme. Although she teaches at a prominent secondary school, she is on contract and, as a result, is unable to secure loans from a reputable financial institution. The Ministry of Education told her she does not qualify for a scholarship, and so after paying more than $85,000 in loan payments monthly, there is barely enough remaining to pay her bills, take her to work, and provide for her family.
“It is not pretty, and this is what the government doesn’t understand. I wouldn’t say this is hand to mouth; this is straight poverty,” said the teacher, who resides in the inner city and is often hailed as a “big teacher”.
Teachers islandwide recently staged protests to register their dissatisfaction with the salary package on offer from the Ministry of Finance and Public Service. They returned to work on Friday, March 10, following an appeal from the Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) to facilitate the team’s return to the negotiating table to continue the discussion with the government.
Those discussions ended on March 13 with the signing of an agreement between officials from the JTA and Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke. The agreement was signed by the president-elect of the JTA, Leighton Johnson, and not the president, LaSonja Harrison. This signing was preceded by several rounds of voting the day before by JTA delegates that ended with over 80 percent agreeing to accept the new wage offer.
Since then, mostly classroom teachers have vented their intention to withdraw their membership from the JTA, which is perceived to have traditionally acted in the interest of principals. There are also speculations regarding Harrison’s future with the 60-year-old organisation following her unprecedented decision.
In an interview with the Freedom Come Rain newspaper last month, Harrison noted that teachers were going home with, in some cases, $18,000 monthly after repaying loans taken to upgrade themselves.
“We are not getting no great remuneration and for all the dependencies that are on us in terms of building the nation, I would think that government, not just the people of Jamaica would understand the importance,” she said.
She noted that after paying out of pocket to upgrade themselves, some teachers were unable to feed their families on what was left.
“Our colleagues are going home with $8,000, and it’s not waste they are wasting their money; they have loan payments and arrangements [because of] substantial investments that they have made and they are going home with that amount,” she lamented.
“Teachers continue to upgrade themselves out of their own struggle and out of their own desire for professional development, but the compensation is not equally rewarding,” she said.
She pointed out that several teachers were giving their students lunch money, bus fare, and buying their books out of their meagre pay.
Reid said that based on her initial checks, she was told she is likely to get an increase of between $2,000 and $3,000 monthly on her salary, but she will not know for sure until April.
Professor Canute Thompson, heads the Caribbean Centre for Educational Planning at the University of the West Indies, Mona, noted that based on the new agreement, the teachers will not see a significant increase in salary.
“The understanding I have, based on the information made available, is that the substance of the new offer is a mere $25,000 more per year for teachers. Zero in year one, $25,000 in year two, and $50,000 in year three. So the net effect is that the new offer is $2000 more per month than the old offer, and many teachers are learning of that after the signing,” he told the Freedom Come Rain newspaper.
A document purporting to be the new pay scale, which has been circulated in the media, shows that graduate-trained teachers, which make up the bulk of Jamaican teachers, will now be taking home $210,000 before taxes and other statutory deductions are withdrawn. Pre-trained teachers with no certification will receive just over $1.2 million annually, which translates to $100,000 per month in gross salary.
Reid, a Mathematics teacher, finds herself in the middle. She said life as a classroom teacher is fulfilling because she loves to see her students excel, but it is tough.
“Sometimes we don’t have any money to buy food. We still have to be marking papers on empty stomachs. I can attest to that personally,” she said.
“Today, I wanted something to eat because my head started to hurt. After I was finished teaching and explaining [the lesson], I was praying to God that nobody would say they don’t understand. I put my head on the desk,” she recounted. Her students were concerned and asked if she was okay.
As a Mathematics teacher, Reid has to integrate reading while teaching, as she realises some of her students are not able to read while others have behavioural challenges. The educator, who was often called a “duncebat” while she was attending school, understands that many are from poor families and might be affected by their social circumstances.
“I feel so sorry for these children, but when I’m not motivated, oh gosh man,” she sighed.
Despite her hunger pangs, Reid sometimes stays behind after school to assist slow learners. She takes pleasure in the expressions of gratitude she receives from their parents.
“I would talk to the parents, and I would say, I’m going to work with your child, but I would want for you to work with me too. They would say, ‘Miss, I don’t have any money,” and I would say, “Don’t worry about the money; I am going to take them as my project,” recounted the teacher before adding, “I don’t even bother charge them, because you can see that some of the parents are in the same position like myself.”
The position Reid has found herself in is not one she had envisioned while she was teaching stones in her yard as a little girl. She was further motivated by her second-grade teacher, Mrs. Gauntlett, at the Cockburn Garden Primary School, who sat with her in the evenings and taught her to read at no cost to her mother.
Today, the cost of living necessitates that teachers get a decent salary. The educator said she depends on her spouse, her siblings, and her mother to assist her with groceries on a monthly basis because what she takes home is insufficient to foot the bill.
“Every time I go shopping, the prices raise,” she lamented.
“Yes, we love the children, but we have to put ourselves first. When we go and teach them on a hungry stomach, we will drop down,” she said.
Reid has heard the sentiments expressed that teachers were selfish for mounting a protest that disrupted classes at several schools, but after sacrificing her health, family time, and general well-being, she feels teachers have a right to put themselves first.
*Name changed to protect the identity of source