Road Town, Tortola -  Principals from both primary and secondary public schools are participating in a Leadership and Management Training Seminar throughout this week, which among other things will strengthen the leadership and management skills of principals, other officers and managers of the school system.

At the opening ceremony, which was held this morning at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, Minister of Education and Culture Honourable Andrew Fahie told the principals that in order to continuously rise to the challenges facing the education system in this modern time, everyone must “ensure that we strengthen the weaknesses and build upon the strengths of each of the school managers, our principals."

Minister Fahie explained that the seminar is “the first of a series of many workshops which will be designed to build the capacity of our principals in order to equip them with the necessary tools to manage our schools through developing more effective leadership skills.”

He added that the Ministry and Department of Education are dedicated to ensuring that principals are constantly prepared to meet the varied changes or reforms in education. “Our education team’s goal with this initiative is to translate response into results,” he said, adding, ”our education system is all of us and if our system fail then each of us fail but if it is succeeding, then each of us succeeds.”

“We are a team and as a result we must continuously strengthen each link in our education system so that our education chain can withstand the test of time in the best interest of our students,” Hon. Fahie said.

Acting Permanent Secretary Ms. Carolyn O’Neal pointed out the importance of being a leader of a school. “As a school leader you must always ensure that you are cognizant of the principles and governance of the education system of the Virgin Islands,” Ms. O’Neal told the principals, adding, “the role of public education, the law as it relates to education and schooling, the political, social, cultural and economic systems that impact the aspect of education and schooling and the global forces that affect education are amongst the areas of which you should be aware.”

Ms. O’Neal asked the principals to communicate with the ministry and department on a regular basis. “This seminar is one of the many indications that we are committed to providing you with the opportunity to remain on the cutting edge of your profession and like you, our main interest is the success of all of our students and ultimately to provide quality education in the Virgin Islands,” she said.

According to Dr. Aubrey Armstrong, the facilitator of the seminar, one of the main objectives of the training is to develop skills and competencies so that the participants will be better able to facilitate planning, implementation and monitoring structures for schools; develop, sustain, support and lead teams in their respective schools; develop and sustain trust; implement performance management; lead transformation and change in self, team and school, amongst other related areas.

Dr. Armstrong explained that it will be “hands on” training and participants will have the opportunity to work in teams. “As participants you will take the responsibility for learning and what we will do this week is help you examine your experience and come out with some conclusions and understanding that what we are doing is bigger that all of us,” he said.

“At the end of the week principals must be able to say with pride, we do not teach children, we provide the guidance for the future of this nation,” he added.

Approximately 25 principals are participating in this training session which culminates on March 19. The mission of the Department of Education is to equip learners of all ages with the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary to become productive citizens in a rapidly changing society.