Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, Oct 31, 2025

de Castro pushes improved pay for teachers amid ‘alarming resignations’

de Castro pushes improved pay for teachers amid ‘alarming resignations’

Educators play an essential role in the economic development of the Virgin Islands. This was the unmistakable and underlying message from Education Minister Sharie de Castro as she made an urgent plea for lawmakers to properly address the compensation issues affecting teachers in the territory.
The minister’s plea comes days after receiving a missive from the BVI Teacher’s Union over unpaid salary increments dating back several years ago.

According to de Castro, she contacted the union afterwards to request a meeting to hear directly from teachers so that their concerns could be effectively articulated and represented.

The minister pointed out that teachers have shown a high level of dedication and commitment even amid times of crisis and said her ministry aims to “build teachers that are highly qualified and adequately compensated”.

Alarming resignations

In the meantime, the minister explained that the territory has lost teachers with an “alarming number of resignations” coming since the start of the school year.

The haemorrhaging of educators was said to be over issues such as a low rate of pay, the increased cost of living, the compensation offered in other countries, insufficient and outdated resources, and a challenging work environment, among others.

She explained the stark disparity in compensation between teachers locally and abroad, with entry-level teachers in the BVI getting just about $34,600 while across in the USVI their colleagues will earn $50,000 beginning this August, and further away in Texas, the starting salary is now set at $61,500.00 per annum.

Higher demands

But as the minister described the loss of teachers to other countries, she pointed out that the demands on teachers have only grown over the years.

These include professional development, monitoring and evaluation, the initiation of Professional Learning Communities and the implementation of S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) education as mechanisms of upgrading the system and making it more innovative and competitive, de Castro explained.

“At this juncture, I must emphatically emphasise that, based on these demands, and more, there must be a thrust for higher pay for our teachers,” the minister urged.

According to de Castro, “it is understandable that low compensation for teachers discourages our own from entering the profession”. She further said she believed that increasing teachers’ salaries will improve the quality of the future workforce, keep teachers in the classroom and reduce turnover.

She added that the low rate of pay for teachers has led them to consider second and third jobs to make ends meet and said teachers need to focus on teaching and on building the territory’s future.

“Education is a fundamental aspect in the development of any country. When the youth of any country are educated, a future is born with hope, vision and possibilities. In actuality, our educators increase the creativity and productivity of students, and therefore, our future workforce,” the minister argued.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×