PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson will meet with stakeholders of the education sector today to advance his January 1 announcement of a thorough review of the education sector.
The Office of the Prime Minister did not provide an agenda for the meeting when asked, but said it would mark the beginning of the review.
The Prime Minister had announced at the turn of the year that he would be naming a 'top quality' special committee to assist with the Ministry of Education's review of the country's education system.
He said then that Jamaica was not seeing the desired outcomes from the investments being made in education.
The findings of the committee, whose members are yet to be made public, are to be presented to the National Council on Education.
REVIEW OF INITIATIVES
In November, Mr. Patterson had also ordered a review of the initiatives undertaken in education and training over the last 20 years just weeks after the results of the 2003 Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exams were released.
Dr. Ralph Thompson, a member of the National Council on Education, had described the results as a "total disaster", and had said that the disappointing pass rate in the CXC exams was a tragic reminder that the State was not honouring its obligation to educate its young citizens properly, especially the children of the poor.
Contacted for comment, Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson said the Ministry began its review with officers of the Ministry analysing the CXC and Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) results.
The Minister said some of the Ministry's policies were also examined, and that talks were scheduled to continue this week with other stakeholders of the education sector, outside of the Ministry of Education.
