SENATOR NOEL Montieth, Minister of State for Education, Youth and Culture, is expected to provide Cabinet with a final draft of the revised Education Regulations by the end of February.
He provided Cabinet with an interim draft of the amended education code, which, according to Senator Burchell White-man, Information Minister, proposes a raft of new provisions in the first review in more than 20 years.
BRIEFING AT JAMAICA HOUSE
"I will not attempt to go into them this afternoon except to say that they seem to provide more detail on the responsibility of ... parents, principals, education officers, permanent secretaries ... right up to the (Education) Minister," Senator Whiteman told journalists during Monday's post-Cabinet briefing at Jamaica House.
He said the final draft should be taken to Cabinet for consideration in four to six weeks.
Among the amendments are provisions for "developments that have taken place since the last code was produced in 1980," he said.
The Jamaica Teachers Asso-ciation (JTA) stated recently that it wants decision-making powers on some matters that are now set unilaterally by the Ministry of Education.
Patrick Smith, the JTA's general secretary, wants the association to "have a say" in the setting of the pupil-teacher ratio, for example, which under the present code, is determined by the Education Minister.
Pressed on a controversial recommendation bandied about last year, Senator Whiteman noted that deliberations were continuing on the possibility of enforcing a code of conduct on teachers outside of work hours.
"That was discussed and as I understand it, the Ministry has not finished its dialogue with the teachers. So it will continue on that line and I think there is room for believing there will be consensus on that issue," Senator Whiteman said.
According to previous reports, the code is also seeking to give principals more leverage in handling disciplinary matters, and will extend their authority to suspend teachers beyond the maximum 10 days.
