Ministry of Education outlines initiatives at Public Meeting

~~Adz:Right~~~ Roadtown, Tortola - Ministry of Education and Culture officials  outlined a number of initiatives being embarked upon at a public meeting last Thursday as the ministry continues its endeavours to move the education system from "good to great”.

Thursday’s meeting was the first in a series of public meetings the ministry will hold throughout the Territory this month which will be chaired by the Permanent Secretary Mrs. Sheila Brathwaite or a designate.

Speaking about the upgrading of schools, Minister for Education and Culture Honourable Andrew Fahie said, “We are committed to the modernisation and upgrade of our schools’ physical plants and we have done a lot across the board.”

Upgrades, remedial work and renovations have been carried out on several schools throughout the Territory including the Bregado Flax Educational Centre, Claudia Creque Educational Centre, Joyce Samuel, Leonora Delville, Jost Van Dyke, Ivan Dawson, and Francis Lettsome Primary Schools. The minister said that they are still on the drawing board with the way forward regarding the renovations to the Elmore Stoutt High School campus.

He also added that they want to move to having a technical high school. ”This is very important because we want to cater for students in the technical areas. We want to change the culture of the BVI Technical Vocational Institute in Baugher’s Bay which is viewed by some of the public as a school for academically challenged student, which is not fair for any child, and we want to make sure we eradicate that perception.”

In addition, Honourable Fahie announced that the Ministry and Department of Education have held grade level meetings with teachers with the objective of standardising what is being taught in schools across the board.  “We are in the process of, not eliminating the Primary Five Exams, but eliminating the weight that the exam has by making sure that each grade level in the school has a national exam so as to have continuous assessment,” Honourable Fahie said.

Another ministry initiative is the implementation of a Literacy Intervention Programme which helps students who have difficulty reading by using the expertise of retired teachers.  The programme began at the Isabella Morris and Ivan Dawson Primary Schools and it has extended to the Bregado Flax Educational Centre’s primary division.

As Government works towards the implementation of technology in schools, the ministry will introduce the student information system (Power School) in all public schools.  This system is an upgrade from the School Administrative Student Information System (SASI) that is currently being used.  Ministry and Department of Education officials, teachers and school administrators are currently undergoing training using this new system.  “This technology brings accountability to the education system in areas of attendance, grading, dissemination of information and the overall administration of schools,” he said.

The Minister added that parents will also be able to log on using an identification number and look at their children’s performance in real time from anywhere.  Another community meeting will be held in Carrot Bay on Thursday, December 4 to discuss the three architectural design options for the Isabella Morris Primary School as well as the Power School initiative.  The meeting will be held at the Abraham Leonard Community Centre at 7:30 p.m.

The Ministry of Education and Culture’s mission is to provide rehabilitative services, as well as, to facilitate access to and participation in sports, recreation and culture, in order to enrich the lives of all residents of the Virgin Islands.