Education Minister Fayval Williams announced this morning (August 22) during a press conference that 167 teachers have resigned from the public school system since July.

Last week it was reported that 80 teachers resigned but that figure double within a week with a total of 167 teachers handing in resignation letters.

“The current number that we are looking at and this is for the period July to present is 167. These resignation we know will impact staffing for the new school year as we are so close to the start of the new school year,” Williams said.

The minister shared in her opening statement that the ministry is aware of what is currently happening.

“We want to update the nation on a matter we know is of national interest to Jamaicans. I know that there has been many discussions, many articles, many social media posts about the number of teachers who are or will be migrating and the likely impact of that on the education sector as we emerge from the pandemic and given the fact that we are on the cusp of the new school year,” Williams said.

 It was not made clear during the presentation if all have left for jobs overseas.

“It may be due to migration, we don’t know precisely because our teachers are under no obligation to tell us why they are resigning. There are many reasons for resignations of persons and among our teachers.”

She shared that there are teachers who have left the public school system to teach at private schools here in Jamaica.

The minister stated that the ministry regretted seeing the teachers go, but that their decision must be respected.

Williams highlighted that the numbers could change as update comes in from school administrators.

The minister also revealed that 964 specialist teachers have completed training and are available for the public education system. The teachers cover areas such as computer science, chemistry, mathematics, and English language among other subjects.

“I am sure many will be taking up appointments in our schools,” she said.

Of that number, 121 of the teachers are on a government five-year bond and 10 are Building Out Our STEM Teachers (BOOST) graduates.

“We would like to thank principals, teachers, administrators, parents for their steadfastness and the work they would have done over two school years as we managed through the pandemic,” the minister noted.

The school year officially begins on September 5.