March 17, 2016: The Honourable Anthony Garcia, Minister of Education met with a group of principals from Private Secondary Schools on Wednesday March 16th, 2016 at the Ministry of Education’s Head Office, St. Clair to listen to the concerns faced by these institutions and discuss improvements to our education system.
Minister Garcia, along with Permanent Secretary Gillian Macintyre, Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan and other officials commended the eighteen (18) representatives for their valuable contribution to education and urged them to continue partnering with the Ministry of Education to help build a better education system.
The concerns discussed included insufficient funding for students placed in the private secondary institutions by the Ministry, a lack of access to training and workshops provided by the Curriculum Division, consideration should be given to permitting private students to access the guidance and counseling services provided by Student Support Services, increased indiscipline and lack of respect by students towards teachers and the inability to upgrade physical infrastructure due to financial constraints.
Responding to some of the concerns, Chief Education Officer, Harrilal Seecharan said he will ask officers from the Curriculum and School Supervision Divisions to work with Principals of Private Secondary Schools to provide support in the various areas raised during the meeting. In response to the funding concerns, the meeting was informed that proposals were being developed to submit to Cabinet.
Another meeting will be held in early April to continue dialogue on the matters brought forward by the principals and other representatives and provide updates.
Since being appointed as Minister of Education in September 2015, Minister Garcia and Senior Executives of the Ministry of Education have held several meetings with similar interest groups to discuss the delivery of education services to the nation’s children.
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Ministry of Education
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