Oran Hall | Looking outward for a better life

People wanting a better life often turn to migration – legal or illegal. This has created problems for the target countries. Consequently, the United States has a problem at its southern border, and Britain has one brought on by people crossing the English Channel.

When Jamaica’s teachers, like the nurses, migrate in search of a better life, it is beneficial to the receiving countries, and though Jamaica feels the pinch, it also benefits.

Jamaicans love to own their own home, but would also like to own a reliable motor vehicle, to afford medical expenses, to give their children a good education, to enjoy the good things of life, and to provide for their children and other dependants. It seems, too, that they would prefer to meet these goals without having to burden themselves with debt. If I hear the teachers well, they are saying that they migrate because they want a higher standard of living.

They are not happy that the Government is willing to consider filling the gap created by their departure with teachers from other countries. They believe the sums so spent could be better used to improve their remuneration and thus reduce the need for them to migrate. In any event, I do not see expatriates playing a dominant role in our schools as some fear.

There was a time when expatriates had a strong presence in our schools. I recall and am able to confirm this from copies of my school magazine that expatriates were very dominant at Rusea’s High, then the only high school in Hanover, when I left over four decades ago and during my entire seven-year stay there. It was quite normal for about 70 per cent of the academic staff to be expatriates, the vast majority being from Britain, with a few being from Canada, the US, the Philippines, Australia, and Trinidad & Tobago.

Even with expatriates, we did always have all the teachers we needed. Not having an economics teacher in sixth form at one point, our principal used to take me and the other economics student and one other student to Manning’s High School in Westmoreland for classes. The economics teacher was an expatriate. Some of those former teachers are still in Jamaica, having settled here with the Jamaican families they established.

The tables have really turned. Then, we needed expatriate teachers because we were not producing sufficient teachers, especially those with university degrees, to meet our needs. Today, we are producing far more teachers, with degrees at that, who are enticed by the countries that used to supply many of the teachers of yesteryear because they are better able to offer what our teachers require to realise their suite of personal and financial goals.

The expatriates contributed meaningfully then to the development of significant human capital formation in Jamaica through the many and wide-ranging subjects they taught in addition to the many wide-ranging co-curricular activities that they sponsored and directed. The country is still benefiting today. Jamaican teachers who have migrated are doing the same where they are.

Jamaica has invested heavily in the training of its teachers, but losing some does not mean it is making a negative return on that investment. Returns come in the form of remittances returned to support family members to buy goods and services, to pay for education, to help to buy homes, to pay debts, to make investments, and to acquire other assets. Some also return as tourists, joining other members of the Jamaican diaspora who come in that capacity. One benefit some have acknowledged deriving is getting to know parts of Jamaica they never knew before, plus enjoying Jamaica’s luxurious resorts. Thus, while they are away realising their goals, they are assisting others to realise theirs while adding to the inflow of foreign exchange to the country.

Although there are exceptions, some teachers who have taken their skills to other countries have been able to give her children a good education both here and abroad, not to mention that some have seized opportunities to upgrade themselves educationally. This is not to say that there are no opportunities here, but the general view seems to be that more opportunities abound abroad.

In fact, beyond education, home ownership seems to be more easily attainable than in Jamaica. One teacher shared how she and her husband were able to buy a home in Canada within 18 months of arriving there, having not been able to so in Jamaica prior to that although they had made several attempts.

Certainly, our teachers are not unique. Nurses, other professionals, skilled people, and unskilled workers have similar experiences. It is human to want better. It is not unique to Jamaicans. Some people put themselves at great risk to become better, and when it works, it also works for other people in their lives, and beyond the personal benefits of migration, countries reap their share.

Oran A. Hall, author of Understanding Investments and principal author of The Handbook of Personal Financial Planning, offers personal financial planning advice and counsel.finviser.jm@gmail.com