Edu-talks to begin next week

THE Ministry of Education launched its Edu-talks series which will take place next week.

Minister, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly at the launch held at the Ministry of Education’s offices on St Vincent St on Friday said the talks were meant to update the public of the details of the education policies that would guide the ministry through 2023 to 2027.

“The education policy is supported by a suite of new sub-policies such as the cultural transformational policy, home-schooling policy, patriotism policy, the policy for the registration of private schools, the digital transformation policy, and the remedial education policy,” she said.

On Monday, the ministry will hold a leadership forum; on Tuesday and Wednesday, community forums will be held at Carapichaima West Secondary School and El Dorado respectively. On Thursday the ministry will host an online forum and on Friday the ministry will host a forum for students.

Gadsby-Dolly said the policy recommendations came out of education consultations done in 2020 and 2021, the Caricom crime symposium held earlier this year and continuous feedback from education stakeholders including principals, denominational boards, teachers, students, parents and the wider national community.

Responding to questions on discussions around SEA examinations, she said the general results of a report of an SEA concordat commissioned by the Office of the Prime Minister suggested that TT may be better served by a different system to SEA examinations, but for now the ministry is focusing on providing equity in education.

“That means we have to ensure no matter where student goes to school they can receive quality education,” she said. “What was expressed in the report was if we were to move to a different system there may be unintended consequences that may serve to concentrate students even more than it is now based on geography, the type of school that they attend and that would not give us the result we are looking for. So what they are suggesting is that we take a deep dive into the education system and the quality of education that is offered.”