Given the endless litany of murders and the pressures of the season, our report on the draft education bill − which barring the accompanying manual and regulations is complete – slipped by without notice. The draft bill is a long and complicated document, and one supposes that even those who have a professional interest in educational matters would be unlikely at this time of year to give it their undivided attention. However, one hopes that early in 2009, when the seasonal frenzy subsides for the duration, interested citizens − and the professionals, of course − would obtain a copy and apply their minds to its provisions.
There are two things which stand out immediately about it, and the first, which is mentioned here only in passing, is that it retains corporal punishment as a sanction in schools, despite the fact that this is out of consonance with our international commitments in relation to the rights of the child, etc.
The second is of an altogether different order. The draft bill ostensibly confirms the existing decentralized system whereby the regions hold responsibility for education delivery. However, at the same time it sets up the conditions which would allow the Minister of Education indirectly to control secondary education all over the country, bypassing the education departments of the regions. The instrument for doing this would be the board of governors. Section 55 of the draft gives the minister the power to establish a board in a public secondary school after placing a notice in the Official Gazette. A board could in fact manage more than one school in an area if the minister were satisfied that this would be in the interest of education.
A board would comprise the principal and vice-principal of a school, who would be there in an ex-officio capacity; a member nominated by the PTA or a school committee; someone nominated by the school’s academic staff; one member nominated by the student council; and not less than seven members nominated by the minister after consultations with the RDC and NDC. One does not need to be an arithmetical genius to recognize that ministerial appointees would outnumber the others by a tally of two, and if the minister thought that this was an insufficient margin for his comfort, he could nominate more than seven members to a board.
One can only wonder what is to be gained from establishing a framework which could potentially, at least, make the administration of public secondary schools ultimately answerable to a political appointee sitting in cabinet, and not even to his technical officers in the ministry, it might be added.
Interestingly, the draft bill states that the minister may establish a board of governors in a public secondary school in the interest of economy, efficiency and for the participation of the community in the management of education. What is meant by economy in the context is not clear, and whether the arrangements would result in efficiency is in doubt; however, community involvement would mean very little if it is the minister who in the end will select the nominees. The last thing one wants is the possibility of a political tussle about appointments to a school board in a place like Region 4, to give the obvious example.
But that is not all. Among the functions listed for a board is the one which makes it responsible to the minister for the efficient management of the school by the principal. No headteacher should ever be in a position where s/he by implication has to answer – albeit through the board − to the political powers-that-be for the discharge of his or her duties. How can professionalism ever be encouraged if the perception is that in the final analysis it will be a politician who will be breathing down a principal’s neck? In a rather different context under a previous government, we have been down this road of confusing education and politics before, with disastrous results.
Under the provisions of the draft bill, a principal of a public secondary school will be emasculated in other ways as well. A board will have the power to review or modify if necessary, and approve, the school’s development plan drawn up annually by the headteacher, as well as implement policies for the administration, management and operation of the school. Then it must evaluate the performance of students at various assessments and examinations, and significantly, take the necessary measures to achieve improved results – plus any other function conferred on it by the act, the regulations, or the minister in writing. It can too make recommendations to the minister and if necessary appoint committees.
What, one wonders, would be the job of a principal in these circumstances, because quite clearly it would not be the management of a public secondary school, or even education delivery within a school. That will now be undertaken by committee in the shape of a board, and the headteacher will effectively be reduced to the level of a chief clerk. In the case of a good principal, these kinds of arrangements will be nothing less than catastrophic, and even in the case of a weak one, they will almost certainly do nothing to improve the situation. In the end, if you want people to perform better, you have to give them the room to succeed or fail. If they have no scope for authority at all, they will take no decisions, leaving everything to a board which is not even in the school on a day-to-day basis.
This is not to suggest that there is no place for boards in the school system – even in the present draft they have a financial accounting role, which is as it should be. There is no reason too why they should not have a larger oversight role, although not to the extent that they usurp the authority of the principal. However, they should never be seen as political surrogates, and even if that is not the intention in the current draft education bill, the section dealing with boards does have the potential given the right circumstances to lead to that consequence.
The bottom line of the problems in our education system is the chronic lack of competent teachers at all levels, but particularly in the public secondary schools. It doesn’t matter how many school boards are put in place, with however many powers, they will be completely ineffectual if the teaching skills’ deficit continues.
