Inspect education ministry too

Owen Speid, Guest Columnist

It's been years of trying to get the education system functioning at an acceptable level and our students achieving to their maximum potential. Additionally, I would like us to get to the point in our history when all stakeholders in the education industry put all hands on deck in the interest of efficiency and productivity.

As it stands today, we are having a situation where the stakeholders are individually taking the easier and sometimes cheeky route of passing the buck rather than taking their fair share of responsibility for the state of the education system.

It goes without saying, therefore, that I was pleased when a national inspectorate had been established in an effort to identify the shortcomings in the school system. This effort, I hope, will bring positive results.

But what of the role of the Ministry of Education and its regional offices? Shouldn't they be formally inspected by an independent body to ascertain if they have been efficient with respect to giving adequate support to the schools which they govern?

CRITICAL AREAS

I will supply a few critical areas that need to be inspected and the findings made public, similar to those of the National Education Inspectorate.

Has anyone ever stopped to enquire about the adequacy or, more fittingly, the lack of financial resources allocated by the ministry to carry out the daily activities of a public school for a term or academic year? We know that governments over the years have been operating within a tight fiscal space, but apart from finding excuses for poor performance in the sector, we are not hearing the plain truth about whether adequate financial support is provided by the ministry.

In fact, what we get is continuous skirting around this issue and then a loading off of these responsibilities on the teachers and school leaders. As a consequence of the resulting shortfalls, educators have had to resort to planning and implementing fund-raising ventures to allow school doors to remain open and the plant to be properly maintained. Isn't this going to perennially affect the amount of quality time left for teaching and learning?

COMMUNICATION GAP

Another area that should not escape the microscope is the massive communication gap that exists within the departments of the ministry. We out there in the field are forced to notice the sloppy way in which information is fed into the schools.

Every so often, the smooth flow of events at school is interrupted by the habitual late dissemination of information. I give the example of our teachers and school leaders receiving invitations to attend meetings or deadlines to submit documents only the day before, or even on the same day of the event. Humorously, we sometimes get these invitations and deadlines long after the events have passed.

Not the least in the communication debacle which currently exists at the ministry, is the fact that we experience endless waiting after written communication to the ministry to have projects approved. We often do not get a response from regional offices despite valiant attempts to follow up. The result is that many good prospective projects that would benefit the students are either stalled or thrown out the window over time because of frustration.

ASSESSMENT AND PLACEMENT

Any inspection team which has efficiency in education at heart must scrutinise assessment and placement policies. The question is whether successive governments have been making strides in these areas.

There is the ill-conceived notion that placing the students in secondary schools near home or, for that matter, dropping some of the subject matter to be assessed will make it less stressful on the parents and students. I know better - and until we establish more resourced schoolrooms and get parents and students to understand the importance of early background preparation, there will be stagnation in the education sector forever. More dialogue is needed in these areas, and it would be interesting to see the findings of a relevant inspection.

As educators toiling in the field, we would like some sort of survey to be done among teachers and school leaders to ascertain the level of customer service given in the departments at the regional offices. We have seen that teachers are asked to wait for up to two years after all documents are sent in before they are finally appointed. Many times, the documents cannot be found months after they had been duly submitted.

Another case in point is where teachers are frustrated to the point of exhaustion when they must wait for periods in excess of three years to get their refunds for studying without taking study leave.

While some may not agree with me initially, I would like anyone to challenge the fact that things of this nature must affect the psyche of any human being, needless to say people who operate in high-stress jobs.

These are just a few areas that I would like to see inspected - whether by an independent body, or by the already assembled National Education Inspectorate. If and when these introspections are done, we would like the same attention paid to the findings as those paid to the findings of the National Education Inspectorate. I wish all the best for our children!

Owen Speid is principal of Rousseau Primary. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and speidowen@yahoo.com.