Process for Establishing School Boards to be Revamped

The Ministry of Education and Youth is working to modernise the framework for the establishment of boards of management for schools, says Portfolio Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams.

She said that the process will involve creating supporting legislation to guide the procedure for assembling boards as well as the establishment of a database of potential board members.

“We have to make people aware of the process in which they can indicate that they want to serve, so we have a larger base from which to pick. We also have to look at the issue of term limits, how many terms consecutively you can serve on boards.

“We have to modernise the framework in which we put together our boards. There will have to be legislative changes as well as we go forward. These are things that we will do,” she said.

Mrs. Williams, who was addressing Wednesday’s (October 26) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, noted that several activities have already been undertaken to streamline the operation of school boards.

“We have ensured that our boards are better trained. Over the last two years, we have had more sessions for boards to bring them up to speed in terms of their responsibilities, the regulations under which they operate. We have ensured that all our school boards are constituted on time with the requisite persons,” she outlined.

Mrs. Williams explained that the National Council on Education has responsibility for ensuring that boards are constituted in a timely manner, providing information as well as training of members.

Noting that traditionally, Members of Parliament have been involved in recommending members to school boards, she said the Ministry will be adopting a more “formal process” in the engagement of members.