The efforts by the Ministry of Education to intensify the building of managerial capacity of school managers to ensure greater operational efficiency at the school level is a laudable step in its quest for quality education delivery to the nation’s children.
It is heartening to know that this important area in education is being given priority attention and more encouragingly, the Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Development (MERD) Unit has been active throughout the regions identifying areas of weaknesses and offering guidance and support to headteachers on strategies to overcome their challenges.
The MERD has compiled numerous reports highlighting a range of concerns in relation to school plant management and has put the necessary systems in place to correct these.  Various school-based developmental interventions have been done to build capacity along with continued follow-up and monitoring to ensure progress.
This approach is necessary because at the end of the day, the delivery of quality education and improvement in students’ performance really matters and the Ministry of Education has been making concerted efforts to realize these goals.
Undoubtedly, this imperative task at hand can only be accomplished by having quality administrators in the school system and considerable effort has been channelled in this direction. To date, more than 1000 senior school managers throughout the country have completed the Education Management Programme conducted by NCERD and better results are now being seen in many schools.
In fact, greater supervision and monitoring of school managers have resulted in an overall improvement of leadership at the school level. This, in turn, has translated into noted improvements in students’ performance at the last CSEC and National Grade Six Assessment.
It is within this context that the pledge made by Education Minister Shaik Baksh to build on these achievements this year is timely, welcoming and represents a clear signal on the part of the ministry to do all within its ambit to improve students’ learning outcomes.
Minister Baksh was also quick to point out the need for better results in English and Mathematics and much to his credit, he has met with all headteachers at the secondary level at the beginning of the academic year to devise strategies for sustained growth.
The ministry, in keeping with its trust to constantly enhance the performance of students and the quality of teachers, has also adopted a culture of evaluation to ensure that all programmes are attaining the desired results.
The Ministry of Education for the first time has the policies and programmes in place to transform students learning outcomes and as the minister has stressed on numerous occasions, it is time that headteachers put their shoulders to the wheels to make this change a reality.
Their demonstration of sound leadership will ultimately result in improvements in students’ performances and over time, there will be less need for consistent intervention from the central and decentralized systems.
This does not mean that there will be no supervision; rather, it will empower headteachers to better handle some of the challenges relating to quality education delivery and students’ outcomes confronting their respective schools.
Foremost in attaining this level of management, is the need for school managers to embrace accountability, effective policy implementation and regular feedbacks on the performances of teachers and students under their supervision.
Minister Baksh had explained that this system of management is vital as the intention is to place more attention on the poor performing schools to raise them to a standard of acceptable performance.
It also goes without saying that good managers know that planning and organization are critical to success and every school manager must adopt this approach.
Moreover, often the best performing schools have better organized and prepared teachers and all headteachers and their senior staff must inculcate these habits in their teachers to bring out the best in them.
But for this to happen, senior teachers have to see themselves as leaders in the school system and together strive to create a culture of learning that focuses on improving the outcomes of students as well as the operational efficiency of their respective schools.
Apart from this, teachers have to be regular and punctual at school and give their full dedication and support in order to make a positive difference in the performances of their charges.