Financial Management Tool Being Piloted In St. Catherine Schools

A financial management tool, aimed at improving record-keeping and analysis of school-level income and expenditure, is being piloted in some St. Catherine schools.

Being funded through a US$200,000 Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) grant, the tool will ensure more effective management of school resources.

“I’m happy to report that there is good acceptance of it,” said Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams.

“Currently, the administration of our financial affairs is quite manual and it is all over the place – each school having their own. We are trying to gain a window into schools so there is aggregation of the data, even as we are able to look at individual schools as to what they are doing,” she noted.

She was addressing Tuesday’s (October 1) Board Chairs Training Session for Region six at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston.

Region six covers early childhood, primary and secondary schools in St. Catherine.

The project objectives include making the recording and management of day-to-day financial transactions easy, electronic, and efficient.

It will also provide a centralised platform to view and manage financial data in schools, educational regions and at the Ministry, allowing for the development of operating procedures as well as timely use of financial data to make informed decisions about funding allocations.

Mrs. Williams said the Ministry is committed to the process.

“Within the next year or two, that system will be in every school across Jamaica,” she stated.