The tablets are not political gifts – JTA’s Farquharson
Published:Wednesday | August 19, 2020 | 12:24 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Byron Farquharson, the secretary general of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), says the tablet computers that are now being given to teachers are negotiated benefits and not gifts from politicians.
“These tablets are negotiated benefits by the teachers of Jamaica, they are not tools to be manipulated by politicians who are giving the impression that them giving teachers tablets,” Farquharson said, while addressing delegates during Tuesday’s first day of the 56th annual conference of the JTA at Montego Bay Convention Centre and the Hilton Rose Hall Hotel in St James.
“The truth is they (government)have taken too long to give us the tablets and it took COVID to bring them closer to the teachers,” continued Farquharson.
“Every teacher, permanent or otherwise, who received a pay cheque from the Government of Jamaica in May 2018 is entitled to a tablet. So it does not matter which school you are working at now,” declared Farquharson, in seeking to assure the anxious teachers that they are entitled to receive the promised tablets.
According to Farquharson, even those teachers who have retired since the promise was made are entitled to their tablets.
“In fact, it doesn’t matter if you are retired; it doesn’t matter if you are dead. If you left it on your will, there is a tablet for you,” declared the secretary general. “Don’t let nobody tell you anything else about the tablets are to enhance this and enhance that. It is to enhance teaching and learning, but it is a legitimate entitlement to the teachers negotiated by the Jamaica Teachers’ Association.”
In May, the Government started rolling out tablets to the more than 25,000 public school teachers. However, it was not made clear that the tablets were the result of a negotiated agreement at the bargaining table.
The tablet computers will be for personal use as well as to assist the educators in delivering content and lessons in a virtual environment, especially since COVID-19 has added a virtual component to the teaching/learning atmosphere.