The Ministry of Education (MoEY) said reports that a teacher in Westmoreland was paid J$6.68 for salary in March 2023 are blatantly false and are among some mischievous claims made to disrupt the education sector.

In a press release today (May 30), the ministry cited a published story from a local media house entitled ‘A teacher in my parish got $6.68 for salary in March 2023‘. They noted that the quote came from the president of the Westmoreland Chapter of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Kerry Ann Wolliston, and is a false claim.

They noted that in March 2023, the teacher in question received a gross pay of J$87,439. The month prior, the teacher in question received a gross salary of $115,716, and for May got a gross salary of $469,812.

“The teacher is a temporarily employed, pre-trained teacher who is currently substituting for another teacher who is on secondment. The Ministry has been waiting for the pre-trained teacher to deliver her transcript to the Ministry so that she can be upgraded and compensated accordingly. To date, the transcript has not been received from the teacher,” they further explained.

The ministry said they made specific requests to the JTA president LaSonja Harrison on issues relating to teachers not being paid to have such situations researched.

Upon research, they said some of the matters of unpaid salaries brought to the attention of the Ministry are inaccurate.

“Harrison is not getting the full and correct information in its entirety. It would appear that mischief abounds and calls from Harrison to disrupt the education sector should be very carefully examined in light of the misinformation as demonstrated by these examples,” they wrote.

As such, the MoEy said that they will continue to research specific reports brought to their attention and give a response because “generalities do not give enough information to the payroll department to do adequate and timely research to respond.”

Additionally, they noted that the MoEY published several telephone numbers for teachers to call to report their specific situations. Teachers who have not received their salaries are also urged to report the specifics of the matter via the ministry’s email address