Education Minister Fayval Williams today indicated plans to abandon the payment of teachers by scholarships and have educators receive their salaries directly from the department.

There are several scholar-paid institutions across Jamaica.

Williams was answering the question of the timely payment of teacher deductions while addressing delegates on the third and final day of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) 58th Annual Conference at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa in Montego. Bay, St James.

While she didn’t give a timeline for ending the scholarship-paid school system, Williams said the move would help alleviate the problem of late or missed salary payments, which some teachers often experience.

“We are doing a full audit of all of our scholarship-paid schools to address this as it seems to be a recurring problem. Just so you know, eventually there will be no scholarship paid schools and all of our teachers will be paid centrally by the Department of Education,” Williams said.

She added that she was arranging for the creation of financial planning seminars targeting teachers, to help them become more financially savvy and expand their sources of income, as well as helping educators create a cushion of savings for emergencies.

The Education Minister’s announcement comes amid recent reports that around 400 Jamaican educators have left the local teaching profession to seek more lucrative job opportunities overseas.

JTA recently revealed that some 600 teachers will not return to class when the new school term begins in September.

– Christopher Thomas

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