Thwaites wants to change how school boards are appointed and function

Education Minister Ronald Thwaites wants to change the method of appointment and the composition of  school boards, which he hopes will lead to more transparency and efficiency.

Additionally, the Minister wants to add a new layer of management, with the introduction of district boards.

While conceding that this might initially seem more bureaucratic, he's hoping that it will  result in fewer incorrect decisions being made.

Thwaites, speaking on RJR's Beyond the Headlines, on Thursday, said he hoped to begin introducing the district boards "in the next couple of years," promising that they will be "properly staffed," and "which (will) superintend the  work of individual school boards."

These district boards would be the bodies that employ teachers for the schools within their jurisdiction, he said, instead of this function being carried out by each school board, as is the current practice.

While stressing that the intention was not to get rid of individual school boards, the Education Minister said many of them "do not have the requisite skills, and need to be guided."

Such guidance would be provided by the district boards, he said.

Several teachers who were dismissed by school boards have been successful in overturning those decisions. The most recent was a teacher who was fired from Grange Hill High School in Westmoreland.

The Minister also expressed a desire to change the practice whereby Members of Parliament choose members of school boards within their constituency, arguing that it would be better to include others in that decision-making process.

While acknowledging the important historical role that the Church has played in education in Jamaica, he also expressed a desire to see a similar broadening of the decision making process regarding the appointment of board members for schools that were established by religious organizations.

The same approach would apply to schools that were established by trusts, he said.