Lecturers Take a Stand

Lecturers of the University of Technology Jamaica, Papine campus abandoned classrooms on Wednesday September 11, 2018 due to an alleged mystery illness.

Lecturers of the University of Technology Jamaica, Papine campus abandoned classrooms on Wednesday September 11, 2018 due to an alleged mystery illness. The illness is yet to be named, however in response to this some students have also reported having their own illness which they are now calling ‘tiredofutechitis’.

‘tiredofutechitis’

It is alleged that the University of Technology lecturers are being grossly underpaid to such an extent that they finally decided to take a stand. According to an article written in the Jamaica Observer on September 11, 2018 entitled “Utech students asked to attend classes despite sit-in by lecturers”, over the years the University has been receiving poor funding. For this reason, lecturers met up and agreed to carry out a strike to make their point.

Despite this not much has been said by the lecturers to their students about the strike. One lecturer from the Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies, when questioned by students about the strike responded by saying, “what strike?” Another lecturer informed her students that she was not involved in the strike because she was a part time lecturer.

“What strike?”

Meanwhile, this abandonment of classrooms left many students feeling mixed emotions. While some students welcomed the free time off from classes, it was not so for other students who expressed resentment and agitation about the strike. Some students were concerned about the time and money that was wasted as result of cancelled classes. “Although I agree that the lecture’s need to be paid properly. I was also upset about this strike cause I wasted money on bus fare to come classes that neva keep and school fee all raise this year so I’m paying nuff money for classes that didn’t keep. Just wasted time that I could have used to do something else”, shared a second year Utech student who wished to remain anonymous.

It is not unusual for educators to strike in Jamaica as the educators of our nation are constantly faced with the issue of being underpaid despite the crucial role they play in our society. One similar event was the island wide strike that took place in May 2010 leaving hundreds of students without teachers.

In fact it’s quite a popular opinion among individuals that educators are insufficiently compensated for the work they do, surprisingly even amongst UTech students. Eight out of ten Utech students when asked, only a few weeks after the strike of their lecturers, if they believed lecturers were being sufficiently compensated for the work they do, responded by saying no.

With all these things in mind, the question that should be asked is: why is it that our educators, such an integral part of our nation building continue to be disadvantaged? Having not come to a suitable resolution after all these years really shows that the Jamaican government needs to pull up their socks. The events of the past weeks have shown that when educators put their foot down students are trampled on.