‘I cannot change who I am’

WESTERN BUREAU:

Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) President La Sonja Harrison says she cannot change, declaring that she will continue to challenge the status quo and ask uncomfortable questions on behalf of teachers, even as she acknowledges that her outspoken approach has come at a cost.

“I can’t change who I am. I really try not to be a hypocrite, I am a disruptor of the status quo,” Harrison said while addressing the eighth session of the 62nd JTA Conference, which was also attended by Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon on Wednesday.

Harrison said she has embraced her role as an advocate for teachers and no longer questions the personal cost of speaking out.

“I used to ask God why, [but] I no longer do. I embrace my assignment, it has cost me, but anything offered to God must be a living sacrifice,” she said.

The JTA president said her willingness to challenge established practices is rooted in her responsibility to teachers who may be reluctant to raise difficult issues themselves.

“I ask those uncomfortable questions that people have and are oftentimes afraid to ask,” she said.

Harrison called for a change in the culture within the education system, particularly around teachers’ fears of repercussions for questioning decisions and policies.

“There needs to be a shifting, Minister [Morris Dixon]. The removal of fear. The removal of persons feeling that there is, and not just feeling, experiencing a level of perhaps punitive response and backlash from oftentimes daring to question the things that are not,” she said.

She said the experiences being reported by teachers do not always correspond with the narrative coming from the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information.

“There are things that the Ministry of Education will say, but when I talk to my members on the ground, that is not the reality that they are sharing with me,” Harrison said.

Harrison also used the conference platform to call for “reformation now” in education, arguing that generations of systemic problems have contributed to inequality.

HAVES VS HAVE-NOTS

“We call them ‘some strongholds’ in education that have permeated for generations, resulting in us continuously having a system of haves versus have-nots,” she said.

She argued that Jamaica needs a national conversation on education financing and resources.

“I know the struggles of the nation. I know the financials. But if we don’t input the investment, then we won’t ever see the kind of changes that we are desirous of, because it takes cash to care,” Harrison said.

She also maintained that teachers closest to the classroom should have a greater say in developing solutions.

“Those closest to the problems, Minister, I truly believe are in whom the solutions lie,” she said.

Harrison called for greater interaction between teachers, JTA leadership and ministry officials, including regional town-hall meetings where educators could directly outline challenges and propose solutions.

“The last time around, I had scheduled regional town-hall meetings where ministry personnel, and along with the JTA leadership, would be present in settings, giving the ordinary teachers, the teachers closest to the problems and the realities of the classroom, an opportunity to share those challenges and proper solutions,” she said.

She said her leadership campaign was built around representing teachers and that she intends to honour that commitment.

“I campaigned on trusted leadership and being the voice of the teacher,” Harrison said.

Harrison said education reform must also address inequalities in access and extend across all levels, from early childhood to tertiary education.

“All the children who leave primary school education cannot hold in the 35 traditional high schools of the 171 high schools that exist in this nation,” she said.

She argued that Jamaica must find ways to improve the funding and resourcing of education, describing the sector as a pillar that affects the entire country.

“Therefore, we must... have a national conversation,” Harrison said.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com