Petrina Francis, Education Reporter
JOHNSON
SENATOR ANTHONY Johnson, Opposition spokesman on education, said he has concerns about some of the recommendations which were made by the 14-member task force on education's report, arguing that they are "bureaucratic" and a waste of valuable money that could be spent elsewhere.
And while commending what he called the holistic approach that the report took, Senator Johnson told The Gleaner: "I think the thrust of the report is to create more bureaucracy in the system and to have the kind of administrative and structural changes which I am sceptical about."
He said that the $52 billion per year that is required to implement the recommendations of the task force would not be difficult to raise.
"What needs to be ascertained is whether or not we need to spend that kind of money to do what we want to do," he said.
"I don't think that you need $520 billion, it doesn't require that much."
'NEW EDUCATIONAL REFORM'
Senator Johnson added that he was very concerned about the "new educational reform", saying it was not the first time that the government has attempted to revamp the system "but all it does is create more bureaucracy and does not seem to work".
And on the recommendation that school board chairmen should be trained in school management, Mr. Johnson said: "I worry about all of that because the people who become chairmen of school boards are supposed to be competent people who understand the ways of the world. Training says that you would take a course in becoming a school board chairman. I really wonder if that is necessary given the needs of the country."
And on the recommendation that the ministry should out source certain functions to a network of private and public institutions, he added: "All this is doing, believe it or not, is to give a whole heap a people work. The ministry is supposed to be doing this."
He continued: "This is going to cost billions of dollars and the way systems work is that once you put these things in, you never move them. I am very concerned about taking out functions, which aren't being properly done. They aren't being properly done because of a lack of leadership."
"You can't take away from the Ministry what it is supposing to be doing by private people. This is bureaucracy; these are the things that the regional authorities should be looking about."
