Private school teachers to get one-off payment of $40,000

The Government is to provide financial assistance to teachers in the private sector who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Education Minister Karl Samuda says the Government has heard the pleas of the leaderships of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) and the Jamaica Independent Schools Association.

“This will see teachers, of course, receiving a one-off payment of $40,000 each, while support staff will receive $10,000 each,” Samuda said on Wednesday while addressing the JTA’s 56th annual conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Montego Bay, St James.

In May, Samuda had said that the Government was not in a position to help these teachers, but this has since changed.

“We have heard the concerns raised by our private schools, and our colleague and friend Owen Speid said private schools need help. Support has been approved for teachers in private schools under the care programme offered by the Ministry of Finance,” Samuda said.

The education minister reiterated that the finance ministry has set aside $50 million to assist students who are not on the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) with back-to-school preparation.

“It’s not just the PATH students who will benefit from back-to-school facilities, but also those non-PATH [individuals] who are in need,” Samuda said.

“When we requested, initially, the minister of finance contemplated the matter and had to do the appropriate checks to ensure that the funding was in place, but he has since agreed that, in respect of going back to school and support for students other than PATH, he would facilitate us by an additional $50 million to support this category of students,” he added.

- Albert Ferguson

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us @onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.