‘Teaching is the highest calling’
New chaplain at Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College tips hat to educators
Published:Tuesday | September 9, 2025 | 12:08 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Reverend Michael Shim-Hue, the newly appointed chaplain of the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College (SSTC) in St James, is urging educators to resist the political pressures threatening the integrity of the profession, says teaching is “the number one profession and the best and highest calling”.
Shim-Hue, who is the pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Montego Bay, was speaking at the recent SSTC 50th anniversary homecoming service.
He stated that his respect for teaching has grown significantly over the years, to the point where he now ranks it above his own pastoral calling.
“Having been indoctrinated as a boy into believing that being a pastor was the highest calling, the best of callings, it was after further studies and serving on a school board that I realised there’s nothing like being a teacher,” Shim-Hue said, noting that his conviction was born from “lived experience” rather than sentiment.
“Teaching is the number one profession, the best and highest calling. I mean it; I’m not patronising you. My respect for the teaching profession has certainly grown over the years,” he added.
But even as he praised teachers for their role in shaping society, Shim-Hue issued a sobering warning to them, outlining that political interference and difficult working conditions continue to undermine the profession.
“Governments are not making it easier for you all,” he declared, referencing both the People’s National Party (PNP) and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administrations. “Please preserve the integrity of your profession, no matter what is happening with you personally; you are a professional because you are a teacher.”