The Ministry of Education Culture, Youth and Sports hosted the Education Summit for School Managers and Coordinators. This Summit is part of the 3rd installment of the ‘Turning Challenges into Stepping Stones’ Summit series.
Approximately 50 school managers and coordinators from both primary and secondary schools were invited to present their challenges and solutions for the improvement of Education on St. Maarten.
The school manager’s summit was held at the University of St. Maarten. The format for this summit differed from the teacher’s summit in the sense that school managers were asked to present their challenges and solutions on three topics: Communication, Finances, and Personnel.
Each School had a maximum of eight minutes to present their challenges and solutions. Specific challenges such as shortage of qualified personnel, high turnover of teachers on a yearly basis and insufficient funds for day to day operations and teacher qualification were frequently reoccurring topics.
A large consensus of Managers and Coordinators are in favor of drafting local teachers by way of starting recruitment drive.
Suggestions for a teachers training college were also mentioned.
Another focal discussion point at the summit was that of the FBE exit exams and the total FBE structure in the primary schools.
The high school managers expressed concern over the lack of local input in the national exams.
Closing remarks were rendered by the Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Hon. Silveria Jacobs, who thanked the school Managers and Coordinators for their honesty.
In addition some of the challenges presented were immediately addressed by the Minister with updates about their status and progress.
The Minister stressed on the importance of having the input of all stakeholders in education as this would be a key component in implementing sustainable changes to the current educational system.