At the start of the September 2006 school term, 19 teachers will be missing from Government schools. According to Education Minister, Hon Alden McLaughlin, this 3.75 per cent reduction in the total number of 506 teachers in Government schools, is because 10 have retired, four have resigned and five have said that they will not be renewing their existing contracts.

Revealing these figures in the Legislative Assembly on 1 June 2006 Mr McLaughlin said that the percentage of staff leaving was “average.”

“I understand that it is where it has always been,” he said about the percentage.

Leader of the Opposition, McKeeva Bush asked Mr McLaughlin to list the subjects these teachers taught which included Mathematics, English, Spanish, Special Needs and Home Economics.

Asked about the Ministry’s recruitment programme, in the face of the vacancies, Mr McLaughlin said that the programme, which began in January 2006, was ongoing.

A watchful eye has been thrust on recruitment drives throughout Government offices over the past year, as recruiting has been slow.

Earlier in the year, Mr McLaughlin said that he was doing everything in his power to encourage teachers that were frustrated about teaching conditions to stay.

Teachers however are not the only professional group affected by recruitment issues.

As far back as September 2005, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service Management acknowledged that the recruitment road was difficult because potential officers were turned away by the high costs of accommodations in the post-Hurricane Ivan period here.

Recently in Finance Committee meetings Kenneth Ebanks of the Planning Department revealed that upping staff numbers in that Department had been difficult with potential employees turning down jobs because of the cost of living here.