Cabinet Approves Post Codes for Education Sector

Cabinet has approved a total of 5,045 post codes for the education sector, says Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams.

Making her contribution to the 2023/24 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on May 17, the Minister said this includes classroom teachers, senior teachers, master teachers, Health and Family Life Education teachers, numeracy specialists, teachers’ aides, teachers’ assistants and non-academic staff who have been teaching or working in the education system for many years without security of tenure, some for five, 10 or more years.

“This is a major clean-up for the education sector. In the past, it has only been that on getting to retirement that a teacher may find out that they have been working in a job without a post code. To regularise at that time is most time-consuming and frustrating,” the Minister said.

She further informed that the Ministry is doing a finalisation of the data, and then letters will be prepared.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Williams also addressed the advent of artificial intelligence technology, such as ChatGPT, noting that “teachers still matter”.

“Teachers continue to be essential even with the proliferation of artificial intelligence. While artificial intelligence can provide a wealth of information, it cannot replace the human connections that teachers provide,” she emphasised.