PM reassures Ministry of Education staff of strong policy guidelines

Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Wednesday met with the executive leadership of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information at the ministry’s offices at Heroes Circle in Kingston.

The prime minister made the visit after he directed the Office of the Prime Minister to assume temporary oversight of the ministry.

Holness addressed the executive on “administration, service delivery, policy direction and management of the ministry”.

He noted that his role is to ensure that the ministry is properly missioned with policy directives and that the system is working efficiently in the interest of the people of Jamaica.

“The strategy that I have put in place is to bring the ministry under the Office of the Prime Minister (temporarily) under my direct supervision. I go through all the boards [and] speak to all the board chairpersons and board members to understand from them the mission that they were given and to see how we can improve that mission. We then focus on governance to make sure that the way in which the public body, or the department, or agency is run aligns with our national governance standards. If I find any weaknesses, then working with the permanent secretary or any other executive officer, we put in place the necessary programmes or, if it becomes necessary, have the boards changed,” said Holness.

“From a broad policy level, there always were questions about the effectiveness of, for example, the National Education Transformation. We’ve gone more than 10 years since transformation. We want to know whether that massive investment that was made; we’re getting results now. This is an opportunity to, if necessary, have a recommitment – a national recommitment towards education,” stated the prime minister.

Karl Samuda, minister without portfolio, has been assigned responsibility of the education ministry as the administration and governance reviews take place.

The move comes 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.