Poll: Jamaicans dissatisfied with vacant Education Ministry post

The latest RJRGLEANER Don Anderson poll has revealed that more than a half of Jamaicans are dissatisfied with the arrangements at the Ministry of Education where Prime Minister Andrew Holness have temporarily assumed the responsibility of education minister.

Fifty-four per cent of the 1,038 respondents polled said they are dissatisfied with the current arrangement, 25 per cent said they are fine with the arrangement and 12 per cent said they did not know while nine percent said they were not sure.

The move came against the background of the sacking of former Education Minister Ruel Reid by Holness after allegations of nepotism, cronyism and corruption surfaced in the ministry and other agencies under Reid's watch. 

Holness had asked Reid to step down amid the investigations and later reassigned Karl Samuda, who was a Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, to the
education ministry.

Since last year, Owen Speid, president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), has been calling for the prime minister to appoint a full-time education minister to fill the vacant post.

According to Speid, the absence of a definite education minister, along with the fact that other persons are also in acting positions at the ministry, has been creating a uncertainty for teachers.

Arguing that the ministry is being affected by a lack of policy leadership since Reid was dismissed in March of last year, Opposition spokesman on Education Peter Bunting has also called for Holness to assign a permanent education minister.

- Danae Hyman, Staff Reporter

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