Linvern Wright, President of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS), is warning that it will be a major challenge by school administrators to find replacements for teachers who are leaving the classroom for the upcoming school term.
The Ministry of Education says it expects to lose about 1,200 teachers in the upcoming term to other jurisdictions.
In an interview with Radio Jamaica News on Tuesday evening, Mr. Wright said school administrators are now busy trying to fill vacancies in time for the new school year.
He noted that the vacancies are even harder to fill when the teachers who migrate specialise in mathematics and the technical areas.
Added to that, he pointed to the fact that many teachers who plan to migrate do not indicate they are doing so until maybe "two weeks before the end of the holiday period", which is a very short window in which to fill vacancies.
This would mean some students may not have a teacher for some classes at the start of school year in September, he explained.
Mr. Wright is again warning the government that the education sector will continue to lose its best teachers to other jurisdictions until educators are properly compensated.
He said the situation could not be fixed unless teachers get the kind of salary that affords them the opportunity to raise their standard of living - to buy a house, a car and perhaps take a vacation.
