ETOC Reports 30% Progress in Implementation of Recommendations

The Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC) is reporting a 30 per cent progress in the implementation of the 365 recommendations contained in the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC) report.

This represents a seven per cent increase over the last reporting period, January to March this year.

Addressing Wednesday’s (July 23) ETOC Press Conference at Jamaica House, ETOC Chairman, Dr. Adrian Stokes, said work has begun on all pillars, with all initiated endeavours progressing as planned.

“An additional two initiatives were finalised during this reporting period, bringing the total number of finalised initiatives to 17 since the project began,” Dr. Stokes said.

He also advised that work continues on the plan to modernise the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, preparing it to lead a world-class education sector.

The Chairman noted that the education sector is relatively large and complex compared to other areas of government.

“We have identified serious issues relating to weak accountability systems and ensuring that individuals within education are held to a world-class standard. The transformation of education in Jamaica cannot truly happen until the Ministry overseeing the sector is globally competitive in its administration and policy development,” he explained.

Dr. Stokes shared that ETOC has received an initial set of recommendations from the Mona School of Business, which was contracted to conduct a comprehensive review of the Ministry.

“The next step involves consultation with critical stakeholders before we provide feedback to the Mona School [of Business] as they finalise their recommendations. Our goal is to have a firm set of recommendations by the time of our next press briefing,” he said.

For her part, Transforming Education for National Development (TREND) Project Lead, Dr. Venesse Morrison-Leon, said “steady progress” is being made in the implementation of the recommendations.

“This signals a growing commitment for our education transformation agenda and we will continue to work towards making sure that every single recommendation is achieved by the end of the programme in 2031,” Dr. Morrison-Leon said.