The Ministry of Education and Youth will be strengthening collaboration with the Jamaica Independent Schools Association (JISA) on matters relating to education transformation.

Addressing JISA’s annual general meeting on Friday, October 4, at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston, Portfolio Minister, Fayval Williams, said the association will now be invited to quarterly meetings held by the Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC).

The ETOC has been charged with monitoring the implementation of 365 recommendations contained in a report by the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC) that was chaired by Professor Orlando Patterson.

“We have not engaged as deeply as we should with the independent schools about transformation and that’s missing, and we will begin a deeper engagement with the independent schools,” the minister said.

Williams underscored that collaboration is critical to achieving sustainable educational transformation.

“This administration recognises the importance of partnerships with the private sector, civil society and, of course, with institutions across JISA,” she said.

Meanwhile, the minister said technical assistance will be provided to independent schools that were damaged during the passage of Hurricane Beryl on July 3.

“While we may not be able to provide dollars, we can provide the services of our building officers to do assessments and that will help you, as otherwise you would have to pay for that expertise. This is something I will bring to the permanent secretary in terms of deployment of our building officers and other technical persons,” Williams said.