As students return to school this morning (September 4) Education Minister Fayval Williams, has sought to assure that there is an adequate number of teachers in the system to support the teaching/ learning process.

This, amidst concerns about the number of teachers who have resigned.

Last week, Mrs Williams indicated that 854 resignation letters had been received.

She noted that this was down from the 1,538 received for the similar period last year.

In her back to school address last evening, Mrs Williams stressed that there are enough teachers available.

The theme for academic year 2023/24, is “Transforming, Reforming, Moving Forward”.

Mrs Williams noted that teachers have a crucial role to play in this transformation.

She urged parents to play their part in the educational pursuits of their children.

Meanwhile, despite the assurance from the Education Ministry that there are adequate teachers, opposition spokesman on Education, Damion Crawford, says he is very concerned about the rate of teacher attrition.

Speaking on Irie Fm’s Africa Forum, Mr Crawford noted that up to 160 students are impacted at the high school level when there is a missing teacher.

He stressed that over 400 teachers resigned in 11 days, while noting that math and science teachers, are especially hard to replace.

Mr Crawford said the impact of the teachers lost is not to be minimized.