ETOC reports steady progress on education reform
Published:Friday | October 17, 2025 | 12:07 AMSashana Small/Staff Reporter
The Education Transformation and Oversight Committee (ETOC) says implementation of the Orlando Patterson Report recommendations remains on track, with a 32 per cent progression rate achieved so far.
“Overall, there is steady progress towards achieving the milestones for the transformation journey that we are on. Over the next two years is where we’re expecting to see a lot of the heavy lifting,” ETOC Chairman Dr Adrian Stokes said at a press briefing yesterday.
Of the 365 recommendations outlined in the report, 189 are currently being implemented by the Ministry of Education, with 18 completed. The Patterson Report, designed to address long-standing gaps in Jamaica’s education system, spans an eight-year implementation period from 2023 to 2031, with ETOC responsible for monitoring the process.
Stokes noted the implementation rate reflects a two percentage point increase from the previous quarter. He emphasised that for significant change to occur, sensitive but necessary reforms must be embraced.
Governance, he said, remains a key pillar of the transformation. High-priority actions include improvements in the selection and operation of school boards, enhanced training, and term limits. Stokes highlighted the launch of a public portal allowing citizens to volunteer for school boards as a positive step.
He also pointed to encouraging results in the Primary Exit Profile (PEP), with 70 per cent of Grade 4 students achieving mastery in numeracy and 67 per cent in literacy. Only 475 out of more than 33,000 students fell into the non-mastery category.
“We tend to be very vigorous with our criticisms when things aren’t going well so it is very important that we give credit when it is appropriate to do so,” he said.
“Everyone recognises that transformation is a process that will show results over time. Importantly, for the transformation work to be properly cemented, we must ensure that near-term positive results are repeatable and, more importantly, scaleable,” he added.
Progress was also seen at the secondary level through the Ministry’s tactical approach programme, rolled out in 56 schools to improve performance in the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams. The target was to raise the national mathematics pass rate to 50 per cent and English to 87 per cent. While results fell slightly short – 44 per cent for mathematics and 85 per cent for English – Stokes commended the effort by educators and stakeholders.
He said ETOC is encouraged, by these accomplishments, which “proves that with focused effort, careful planning and relentless execution, you can be successful, even with limited resources to start with”.
However, as ETOC enters its third year, Stokes acknowledged more work is needed. Improvements in student matriculation standards, strategic use of incentives to attract and retain teachers, and building a world-class Ministry of Education remain critical goals.
“Once we get to a certain point, some persons are going to find it painful, but as I always tell people – even in my own business – if you going to the gym and you not feeling pain, you wasting time, you’re not working out,” he said. “Education is everyone’s business, not just the Government’s. An illiterate society can’t be successful.”