Validity of TSC questioned - Obstructionist says Rowley

THE Teaching Service Commission (TSC) came into the spotlight on education on Thursday night as the Prime Minister said it might be obstructing rather than protecting the population.

His comment came in response to a question from the president of the National Primary Schools Principals' Association (NAPSPA), Lance Mottley about the validity of the TSC today.

It was among three questions, including funding of schools and selection of teachers Mottley posed to a panel on which Rowley sat along side Education Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and others.

Rowley who also addressed the Spotlight on Education: Transforming Education said, “Those three issues might be among the top ten in the hit parade of transforming education in this country.”

Tackling the TSC validity, he said, “that question hits right at the heart of the country’s Constitution.”

Tossing back the question to the audience at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) Rowley said the TSC might have been the answer at the time when it came into being.

“The service commission came into being in the context of the population. After 50 years it might very well be that they are not protecting the population, they are obstructing the population.

“But these are political matters that may be weightier than the political environment is capable of. I mentioned the thousands of teachers we have. As a part time service, the commission simply cannot satisfactorily service that large number of teachers

“Secondly, the managerial role that is required for that population of teachers to be effectively managed cannot be dispensed in the management model that exists now.

“Whether we can change it is another story but whether it needs changing, I think the answer is yours.”

Mottley said there must be a conversation about how schools are funded, particularly small government primary schools as the current system is wasteful, inefficient and not reaching the intended targets.

He said the response from technocrats on the funding issue is often, “these things were handed down by God in the Ten Commandments.”

In his appeal to Dr Rowley, Mottley said , “I believe the regulations and the policies surrounding how schools are funded were written by people, written by governments and if there is a real effort to change it, there must be some will on the part of those who are responsible for constructing these policies.

“If we are talking about transforming education, if we do not address this critical issue of how schools are funded then we would have missed the mark.”

Noting that leadership is critical to the success of any organisation especially one that is responsible for the moulding and shaping the nation’s children, Mottley appealed for principals to be given the opportunity to select staff.

In terms of school funding, Rowley accepted that the response is usually, “that is how it is, that is how it used to be, that is how it is being done.”

He noted, “the public service is a very difficult animal to keep in a straight line when you try to make changes because the change is usually rooted either in law or in practice.

“The practitioners usually invoke the law when you require change.”

Rowley said the minister and her team would address that issue and bring it to the Cabinet as its is all part of the transormation they are looking at.

He said he was happy Mottley is in the primary school system where a lot of the changes required resides. "We have to build from the bottom up rather than from the top down."