Education ministry seeking chief transformation officer for Jamaica's education reform

The Ministry of Education and Youth is seeking a chief transformation officer to lead the implementation of recommendations outlined in the 2021 'Reform of Education in Jamaica' report. 

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, gave an update during a face-to-face town hall meeting at Jamaica College in St Andrew, on Friday. 

The ministry is also establishing internal units to support the implementation process. 

Holness said the hiring of the transformation officer “will be a significant milestone in the journey of transformation.”

The Education Transformation Oversight Committee, being led by Dr Adrian Stokes, has already been established.

Holness, who underscored the importance of implementing the recommendations, said the Government remains resolute in its mission of transforming education in Jamaica.

 He maintained that this undertaking will revolutionise the sector and encouraged the ministry's stakeholders to “embrace the transformation process”.

The Prime Minister indicated that the ministry's existing framework must be altered to effectively facilitate the reformation process.

“The transformation must be internal. The ministry itself must embrace the transformation. The ministry itself must see the benefit of the transformation… and the people in the ministry must lead the transformation,” he emphasised.

Holness, who declared that “we are on our way with the new transformation report”, urged the nation “to understand that the Government is serious about it, and we are going to move with great instrumentality to have our education system transformed.”

Developed by the Professor Orlando Patterson-chaired Jamaica Education Transformation Commission , the report is a blueprint for establishing a comprehensive strategy to improve student performance and educational productivity across the sector.

The 342-page document has 54 prioritised recommendations. These relate to governance and accountability; early-childhood education; teaching curriculum and teacher training; tertiary education; technical and vocational education and training; infrastructure and technology; and finance, among other areas.

The report highlighted significant deficits at all levels of the education and acknowledged that there is a crisis in education.

- JIS News

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