Education Ministry launches online application system

THE Education Ministry has launched an Online Staff Letter Application System.

The launch was announced at a media conference held Wednesday at the Education Towers, Port of Spain.

In a release it was reported that Education Minister Anthony Garcia, Minister of State in the Ministry Dr Lovell Francis, Manager of Information and Communication Technology Cory Belfon and ministry executives were joined by representatives of the Trinidad and Tobago Unified Teachers’ Association and the National Primary School Principals Association for the launch of the pioneering system.

"With the responsibility for the largest employee population in the country, the ministry has been challenged for many years with fulfilling the requests for job letters in a timely manner. The new system, which has been accepted by the Bankers Association of Trinidad and Tobago (BATT), will allow teachers and staff of the ministry to request and receive job letters without having to physically visit the ministry. This is a major accomplishment as previously, teachers across Trinidad would have to visit the ministry’s head office to make the request and subsequently return to collect, impacting on teaching time and productivity."

The ministry explained Education Ministry employees can now submit a request online utilizing their official ministry email address, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and receipt would be acknowledged and actioned within one working day. The Education Ministry Letter Application System allows for all requests to be captured and actioned by a cross functional processing team. All members of BATT will accept and process the new letters from Friday February 1, the ministry added.

"Discussions have been initiated with a subset of embassies for approvals to utilise the letters and the subsequent approvals will be communicated once received, via the communication channels of the Ministry of Education."

The ministry also said information security and safety are of paramount importance to all stakeholders and therefore the process for the letter applications has been equipped with several levels of security including: secure login and two-factor authentication, employee file number, faded watermark and encrypted conversion process.

At the meeting Garcia expressed elation with the new system.

“Not only will teachers and staff have an easier access to these documents without the hassle of coming into the ministry but we will also be able to have teaching time in the classroom remain uninterrupted and increasing efficiency in the classroom. This is but one of the ways the Ministry of Education will be improving service to our stakeholders in the coming years.”

The online system has begun operation and can be accessed by employees via the ministry website at www.moe.gov.tt or the ministry' MYMOE intranet SharePoint page.