“Sitting in my office I get all types of reports daily on what goes on in the Ministry. It is my view that to truly be knowledgeable of what is happening at our nation’s school’s I must be integrated into the administration of them.” Stated Minister of Education, Anthony Garcia as a team of officials prepared to visit the Port of Spain and Environs and St George East Education District Offices on Wednesday 7th March, 2018. The visits to the offices continue the Ministry’s thrust toward enhanced service delivery to stakeholders in education. At the District Offices there are representatives of departments such as School Supervision and Management; Curriculum, Planning and Development and Student Support Services. All coming together to form a District Leadership Team responsible for the management of curriculum implementation, administration, discipline, guidance and additional components that make for a high quality school environment in all seven (7) education districts.
During the visits at the two offices the Minister was taken through the activities that the School Supervisors, Curriculum Offices and Student Support Staff have been engaging in within the schools of their districts. The fruitful discussions revealed that while there is much work being done at the level of the school and a lot of work being done by the representatives from the District Offices that more must be done to create a greater synergy between the two. Officers of the Curriculum Division echoed sentiments expressed by the Minister in conversations with the Media that they were concerned with the amount of homework some teachers give to students that many times is left uncorrected and the heavy dependence on textbooks as opposed to finding alternative and creative ways to teach their students. This, they highlighted, contributes to high levels of underperformance in students. The Curriculum Division took the time to elaborate on plans that they have to guide teachers in more effective ways of curriculum delivery to increase the levels of literacy, numeracy and penmanship at the nation’s schools.
The Minister and executives of the Ministry lauded the District Office Representatives on their resilience and commitment to work even with challenging resources such as limited space. Minister Garcia expressed his contentment with the work being done by these officers and will be continuing visits to the remaining five offices in the coming weeks. The Seven Education District Offices are: Port of Spain and Environs, St George East, North Eastern, Caroni, Victoria, St Patrick and South Eastern.