(EMU) – St. Kitts, June 30th, 2012 -- The Ministry of Education’s continued efforts to ensure the most effective use of resources provided for students, has brought about a review of the Student Education Learning Fund (SELF) textbook distribution programme.
S.E.L.F Coordinator Ms. Donna Bassue revealed that a recent assessment of the SELF programme in schools revealed that the policy needs to be standardized across schools as several institutions have deviated somewhat from the original policy.
Ms. Bassue stated further that record keeping had lapsed to some extent in several schools; and there was a need for greater accountability with respect to accessing and returning texts as well as maintaining them.
In undertaking the comprehensive review of the operations, Ms. Bassue said the Ministry of Education had identified and is seeking to address a range of issues related to book distribution, record-keeping and inventory, student accountability, budgetary support, care for the books, as well as the need for streamlining the selection of subject texts across schools.
In a recent cabinet meeting Minister of Education and Information Hon. Nigel Carty advised colleagues his ministry’s proposed way forward in addressing some of the issues.
These include establishing a committee to identify, select texts to be used by all schools; regular stick taking; the creation of a comprehensive database to assist in programme management as well as the introduction of a maintenance contribution from parents to ensure longevity of the texts and their replacement.
The S.E.L.F Textbook Distribution Programme is a Government sponsored initiative which seeks to make education more affordable by providing some of the more widely used texts books to students who need them most.
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