It is welcome news to some of us in the field of education, regarding the proposition made by the education ministry for teachers to be licensed.

This latest initiative by our education policymakers is long overdue. One hopes that the Jamaica Teachers, Association (JTA), which is the professional arm of teachers, will endorse this move as there are more positives to it than negatives.

While we have to admit that most of our teachers are conscientious workers extending the milk of human kindness to our nation's children, there are those in the school system which should be booted out for their mediocre performances.

Severe pressure

Since the advent of the new millennium our schools have been put under severe pressure to perform at their highest optimum. This ambitious goal can only be achieved if the right persons are given the job to steer these institutions through the period of transformation. The flipside to the coin is that it will never happen if the wrong persons are given the top job in our schools because of nepotism and other suspicious reasons.

Now is the time for our school boards which are responsible for the appointment of principals to act fairly and sensibly in their selection process. Bad choices will result in retardation of the school's progress as well as the progress of our children.

Visionless

I lament the dearth of transformational leadership in most of our schools. Many of our school leaders are born sighted but lack vision. Our schools can no longer tolerate principals and teachers who are still living in the past with no vision of what is to come.

It is obvious by the look of things in some of these schools that change and decay have taken place and are taking place.

Our school system is crying out for teachers and principals who cannot be bought or sold and whose goal for education is singular. Who will hear and respond to the plaintive cry of our schools? We applaud the Ministry of Education as it leads the way for an education system that is still hobbling along and a nation that is sick at heart. Remember that the only known cure for ignorance is education.

I am, etc.,

HARVEY BROWN

harveybrown2008@yahoo.com