Education Ministry touts timely submission of 2024-25 financial report

 

After nearly a decade of missed deadlines, the Ministry of Education has submitted its financial reports for the 2024-2025 fiscal year on time. 

 

Dr. Kasan Troupe, Permanent Secretary in the Education Ministry, made the announcement on Thursday during the annual general meeting and conference of the Jamaica Association of Education Officers in Montego Bay, St. James. 

 

Dr. Troupe described the timely submission as a significant step forward, following years of delayed reporting that drew widespread public criticism. 

 

"We have made some strides and I want to let you know that for the first time since 2012, we have submitted our Appropriation Report to the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General. Yes, you can clap us.... So your 24-25 Appropriation Report - how we spent the money - that report has gone into the Ministry of Finance and the Accountant General. You saw it in the media when they said, we got trillions of dollars and we could not account. And I must let you know that since the 2012 report to now, we have submitted several of those reports. Your team members are working," she declared. 

 

According to the Auditor General's Department's 2023 report, the Ministry failed to submit appropriation accounts for nine fiscal years, from 2012-13 to 2018-19, and again in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.

 

During that period, Parliament approved approximately $902 billion for the education sector. 

 

Appropriation accounts are required under Jamaica's Financial Administration and Audit Act. They are critical for parliamentary oversight, since they show whether ministries spend money in accordance with the way it was approved in the national budget. 

 

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Troupe has outlined a series of reforms aimed at improving the welfare of education officers and teachers.

 

Key among these is the automation of the Gratuity Payment Platform, expected to provide immediate relief to those who have been struggling to access their funds.

 

"We are now reforming the pension process. I have a team on it. We're sitting down to review the process. And that's another part. I hate to hear my education officers call me, those who are retired and those teachers who are out there and they cannot tap into their pension. It's unfair to them. And so we have committed to relooking at that and we are automating that very shortly to make sure the systems in the ministry, they are working to serve you."

 

She said meetings are also ongoing with the corporate services, industrial relations and human resource divisions to improve internal support systems.