About 100 public school teachers haven’t signed up with the Bermuda Educators’ Council — with one teacher refusing to register, charging the organisation “does nothing”.

However, Bermuda Union of Teachers secretary general Mike Charles urged educators to comply — and suggested the Island could benefit from a significantly more stringent licensing regime.

Unlicensed teachers were e-mailed last week by the BEC, advising them that signing up is a legal requirement.

Council co-chair Gladstone Thompson also wrote that the BEC was doing “everything in our power” to ensure that educators wouldn’t run afoul of the law, which carries a $5,000 penalty.

The message added: “Your expediency to this request is appreciated.”

However, one veteran educator, who requested not to be named as Government employees are not at liberty to speak with the media, told The Royal Gazette she saw the procedure as pointless.

“I just see them as a moneymaking operation — they just collect fees for whoever’s manning their office,” she said. “When I initially registered, I had to bring in documents like my marriage certificate and birth certificate; I had to send off for my certificates, get everything notarised, and bring them in. They didn’t check anything.

“I got registered on the spot. I just don’t see what they do for us. Teachers’ credentials aren’t vetted, and they don’t provide workshops for professional development.”

She added: “The last time I chose not to pay was two years ago. Nothing happened. I just don’t understand what they’re providing.”

The BEC is tasked under the 2002 Act with improving standards of teaching and professional conduct.

That same Act also requires anyone working in a school as an educator to be registered with the group. The BEC currently charges $140 for a two-year registration.

The current system of registration, implemented in 2008 when the Progressive Labour Party’s Randolph Horton was Education Minister, was designed to ensure teachers were regulated in a similar way to other professions such as lawyers and doctors.

Mr Charles called the number of unregistered teachers “a very small minority”, roughly 100 out of 900.

He also expressed impatience with educators who found the registration procedure onerous — but conceded that BEC could stand to offer more by way of professional development to teachers.

“I understand the concern by people who say the BEC doesn’t do anything for them. But it’s a two-edged sword. It can’t provide this if people don’t pay anything for their licence.”

The organisation receives “only a small grant” from the government, the BUT head added.

“Personally, I think licensing should go further,” Mr Charles said, suggesting teachers get licensed in their particular subjects.

“This was one of the problems we had at the middle school — people went from the general teaching of primary schools to teaching subjects in middle school that they weren’t familiar with.”

He said: “When I got licensed in New York state, I had to take a written and an oral exam. Here, once people show they have a college degree, they get licensed.”

Mr Charles continued: “The BEC was nice to send a letter — what they could have done was send a list to the Ministry, and let the Ministry deal with it.”

He pointed out that the registration fee was modest in comparison to that paid in the legal profession.

“I’m not saying we make a lot of money. But come on. Seventy dollars a year is not a lot to pay.”