ETOC Officially Launched to Advance Education Sector

Advancement of the education sector is under way, following the official launch of the Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC).

Launched during a ceremony at Jamaica House, in Kingston, on July 6, ETOC is currently finalising its implementation plan for recommendations in the 2022 Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC) report.

Approval of the plan and finalisation of its budget are slated to be completed by October 31, 2022.

Additionally, the Committee is required to provide a progress update to the public and Cabinet involving tasks to be executed, their respective timelines, as well as quarterly reports on the progress of targets set for each period under review.

The Committee will be chaired by Director of the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), Dr. Adrian Stokes.

ETOC, through a Chief Transformation Officer and a Project Manager who will both serve at the Ministry of Education and Youth, will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the implementation plan.

Portfolio Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, in her remarks at the launch, said the Ministry remains committed to the success of the plan.

“I am sure the next time you hear a report from ETOC, they will not simply be reporting on what needs to be done, but they will actually be reporting on progress that would have already been made in many areas,” she said.

The Minister added that already, progress on the report’s recommendations began since its publication, from the 54 priority areas identified by the Ministry.

“Already, the Ministry, in seeking to identify gaps and immediate actions, has revisited the School Improvement Framework, revised school supervision and monitoring checklists, and revised the School Supervisor Framework,” she said.

“The next step is to take a strategic review of Central Ministry and Regional Offices,” the Minister added.

Meanwhile, Dr. Stokes said the Committee will reach out for feedback from its stakeholders, for the finalisation of the implementation plan.

“We are also putting together a subcommittee that will work with the Ministry to develop a comprehensive list of initiatives, to ensure the Ministry has the capacity to implement the recommendations,” he added.

Dr. Stokes informed that after its finalisation, a “comprehensive multi-year budget will be sent to Cabinet for approval”.

“This is to ensure that Jamaica’s educational transformation thrust is properly funded,” he emphasised.

For his part, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Deputy Representative, Vicente Teran, said the Fund is “pleased that the deliberations will be building on substantial work, which UNICEF is proud to have supported”.

“This work included the public expenditure review of the education sector, conducted in collaboration with the World Bank last year; the voluntary national review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the Reimagination Education component of the JETC report,” he said.

Supporting the Chairman are 15 committee members drawn from the initial JETC and other stakeholder groups, including Opposition Spokesperson on Education and Training, Dr. Angela Brown-Burke; Chairman of the National Council on Education, Alphansus Davis; Interim President at the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica, Mitsie Harris Dillon; Co-Chair of the Youth Advisory Council of Jamaica, Orville Levy; and President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association, Winston Smith.

The recommendations for implementation relate to areas such as the State of Education in Jamaica; Governance and Accountability; Early Childhood Education; Teaching, Curriculum and Teacher Training; the Tertiary Sector, and Infrastructure and Technology.