JTA mum on details as ministry challenges authenticity of school shelter sex claim

WESTERN BUREAU:

Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President Mark Malabver says he is disappointed with the government posture in demanding full disclosure to his claim that shelterees are engaging in open sexual activities in schools that are being used as shelters.

"Such requests are most inappropriate, misdirected, and betray fundamental understanding of how sensitive matters of this nature must be handled,” said Malabver, who was speaking on yesterday’s final day of the JTA’s 2026 Education Conference in Hanover,

“It is not the role of the JTA to conduct investigations, nor to expose sources or institutions to scrutiny that may compromise the safety of teachers and students and due process. Neither are those roles vested in the minister of education or the permanent secretary,” he continued. “We are fully aware of the consequences when information is mishandled, as members of the JTA, principals and teachers have in the past suffered professional and political victimisation. The JTA will not be complicit in placing our members in harm's way. We will not allow our colleagues to be made into scapegoats.”

However, when contacted, Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon, expressed fundamental disagreement with Malabver's stance, saying he had multiple opportunities to bring that matter to her attention but never did.

“… He (Malabver) has also spoken to me on the phone, and he has said to me that he hears things, and I've said, 'What are you hearing?' And he says he can't tell me what he's hearing because he's not been able to corroborate it. So, the first time I heard anything specific was when he went on a platform and said it, in spite of the fact that we have a monthly meeting and we talk routinely,” Morris Dixon told The Gleaner yesterday.

“Just telling me that, you know, there's discomfort and that the shelterees shouldn't be there, I agree they should not be there, but that's not an allegation. Telling me that there are people having sex in front of children, that's a completely different story. And at no point did Mr Malabver say to me, the permanent secretary, as far as I know, or anybody else in the ministry, that they were individuals engaging in sexual activity in front of children,” added the education minister.

Morris Dixon further noted that since the allegation was made, her ministry has canvased all eight schools that are still being used as shelters, and none of them has said they are aware of any such occurrences.

“The ministry has spoken to all of the principals of the eight schools, because it's only eight schools that have shelterees, and all of them have said that it did not take place at their school, and they've noted that no teacher or student has reported seeing that at school,” said Morris Dixon. “We've also reached out to the Ministry of Local Government, who reached out to their shelter managers, and they've reported back that no shelter manager has received any report of that nature.”

During his presentation at the conference yesterday, Malabver again spoke to the vexing issue of schools having to share space with the shelterees, which the JTA argues is not conducive to the teaching-learning process.

“The Government of Jamaica carries a non-transferable legal and moral obligation to ensure that shelter arrangements are fit for purpose, that vulnerable populations are properly accommodated, and that school environments should be secure, controlled, and exclusively conducive to teaching and learning," he said. " I declare today that the Government has gotten an ‘F’ on this test.”

As it relates to how much longer the shelterees will be allowed to occupy schools, it would appear that a clear timeline has been established.

“The Ministry is encouraged by the recently announced May 8 deadline for the relocation of remaining shelterees being housed in school and continues to support the urgent transition of schools back to their full educational purpose,” Morris Dixon said.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com