Lead Stories

PLAYERS IN the education sector have been put on alert that the ministry will be focusing heavily on enforcing the Education Act this year.

Education Minister Andrew Holness said on Thursday that the ministry would be introducing the Jamaica School Administrative (JSAS) project in schools beginning September. This would facilitate greater efficiency in the management of the education sector.

The minister's comments came at the official launch of a new web-based administrative software system designed to track student attendance and performance in Jamaican schools.

Holness contended that there was a culture of resistance to the reporting and documentation of information in Jamaica's education system.

"Some schools have covered up ... . That is going to be challenged," he said.

"I will put the system on warning that a part of the assessment of teachers will be how well they record and report," he stated.

A United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded project, JSAS was used in the New Horizons project and the Expanding Educational Horizons project for primary schools.

Holness said the traditional education system was built on expectations, without serious checks and balances.

"We have moved from a system of expectations to a system of accountability," he added.