‘It is egregious’

The Education Regulations (1980), which detail the procedures and processes to all aspects of the governance of school life in Jamaica, is outdated and long overdue for an overhaul, according to former Education Minister Maxine Henry Wilson.

The regulations, which include provisions for leave allocation, security of tenure and the process for disciplinary proceedings, have been found wanting over the years.

Many accused and guilty personnel have been reinstated to schools because of procedural breaches by school administrators, before disciplinary action was taken.

Lawyers have made meals out of poor record-keeping by school officials by securing reinstatements of persons who should not be in the system, according to another former minister, Ronald Thwaites.

The regulations are being cited as binding the hands of current Education Minister Fayval Williams and the board of Jamaica College in removing Principal Ruel Reid – himself a former minister – who is before the courts on corruption charges.

Reid was granted special leave under Section 68 of the regulations in 2019 after resigning from the Cabinet. He was seconded to the education ministry in 2016.

Henry Wilson, who served as education minister between 2002 and 2007, said the regulations need urgent revisiting.

REVISION OF LAW

“The time has long passed. It (the law) is so out of date, and every time there was a revision to make clear who is responsible for what, which is where we are at now, it has been resisted. Who can dismiss a principal? Who can dismiss a teacher? It’s really a recommendation that you make, and there have been instances – certainly when I was there – where a recommendation comes from the school board, it is vetoed for all kinds of reasons. The procedures are onerous,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

“The regulations are totally out of date, and they don’t even refer to what are the current practices. So somebody could even take the ministry to court, and the national inspectorate and what they were doing, and win,” she said.

While she was at Jamaica Tertiary Education Commission, Henry Wilson said an overhaul was attempted. However, it took just one person to derail the process as it was suggested that inserts about specific issues had to be included. Other inserts trickled in, and before long the process was stalled.

“I said to them, ‘You can’t make the good the enemy of the best. Let us go with what we have, and over time, we make the adjustments.’ And then it is held up,” she stated.

“It is egregious. Oh, boy! Oh, boy! We should have had a complete update 20 years ago, and looking at others now,” she bemoaned.

Section 68 of the regulations outlined the six reasons for which special leave can be granted – with or without pay – on the recommendation of a school board. They include short-term studies or research; to attend meetings of international character recognised by the minister; to attend international sporting or cultural events; to perform work connected to education; to attend meetings of boards and committees dealing with matters of education; and to be absent for such other reasons as the minister may approve.

In Reid’s case, the ministry has deferred to the Jamaica College board to take the appropriate action.

ALARMING ACTIONS

Thwaites, who served as minister between 2012 and 2016, said he was alarmed that the Government was spending as much as $3 billion per academic year to keep teachers away from their jobs, while hiring others temporarily.

“We had no intention of denying anyone what was due to them, but what was clear was that there were persons in the system who knew how to manoeuvre the system and spend between one-third to half of an academic year out of school while still being tenured,” Thwaites told The Sunday Gleaner last week.

“Individuals in the sector fought the ministry and those (ministers) before me tooth and nail for the looseness to remain because people were benefiting from the morass. It is instructive to note that not a word has come out of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) on the matter, and that silence is deafening,” said Thwaites.

The JTA has elected at least 35 presidents since the regulations were enforced in 1980.

The organisation, which represents more than 20,000 teachers at various levels in the education system, has been one of the staunchest opponents of changes to the regulations, said Thwaites.

“Now we are all embarrassed because we have enough legal brilliance in Jamaica to amend those regulations to make it workable. What we have is a mess,” argued Thwaites.

Former JTA presidents contacted by The Sunday Gleaner did not wish to comment on either the Reid situation or the need to overhaul the regulations.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com