ETOC: 47% of recommendations for education transformation implemented

By Kimone Witter  

 

 

Just under half of the recommendations to transform Jamaica's education system have been implemented, four years after the reform process began.

 

Dr. Adrian Stokes, Chairman of the Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC), says 47 per cent of the 365 recommendations have now been implemented.

 

Dr. Stokes provided an update for the second quarter of year four at a press conference on Thursday.

 

"This is up from the 43 per cent at our previous quarterly briefing, an increase of 400 basis points during the reporting period. This is a very, very good progress rate. Progress during the period was driven mainly by gains in governance...up 900 basis points or nine percentage points; gains in early childhood, up 11 percentage points; infrastructure, up nine percentage points; and finance," he outlined. 

 

Of the 365 recommendations, a total of 166 have been fully implemented.

 

Eighteen were implemented during the quarter.

 

Dr. Stokes said teacher training remains a key priority, with the Ministry of Education working to strengthen the teaching profession.

 

He said through its BOOST programme, the Ministry has expanded partnerships with educational institutions to support this effort.

 

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Stokes said the Ministry of Education and the National Council on Education have launched a pilot programme to pay fees to board directors in selected schools. 

 

"The pilot will focus on underperforming schools and those included in the National School Learning and Intervention Plan, or what we oftentimes refer to as the NSLIP schools. A clear performance management framework will support the pilot. It will track whether boards meet regularly, whether accurate minutes are maintained, and whether the quality of board deliberations can be assessed. Ultimately, a board's effectiveness must reflect the performance of the school it serves. So, this is something that we're going to pay very close attention to," he advised.

 

According to Dr. Stokes, this is one of two initiatives being pursued to improve the governance of school boards.

 

Another measure to strengthen board governance is the recruitment of members with competencies aligned with the deficiencies at schools.