Dr Adrian Stokes, Chairman of the Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC), affirms the committee remains firmly committed to the long-term transformation of the education sector.

He noted that Jamaica’s education system cannot be transformed overnight, but expressed that they are keen to fulfil the recommendations of the Patterson Report.

The Patterson Report aims to diagnose longstanding issues in Jamaica’s education system and propose bold, transformative reforms to address inequality, underperformance, and inefficiencies from early childhood to tertiary levels.

“We are committed to being dogged, thorough, and resilient as they guide the implementation of the recommendations from the Patterson report,” Stokes said during his address at the post-Cabinet press briefing today.

The chairman emphasised that the future of Jamaica depends on this significant national effort to improve the people, systems, and processes that drive educational outcomes.

“For this quarter, we are reporting an overall 30 per cent progress rate on the implementation of the recommendations to improve education outcomes in Jamaica. This is a positive increase from the 23 per cent progress reported at our last quarterly briefing. Now, work has begun on all pillars, with all initiated endeavours progressing as planned.

“An additional two initiatives were finalised this reporting period, bringing the total number of finalised initiatives to 17 since the project began. I am pleased to report that work continues on the plan to modernise the Ministry of Education, preparing it to lead a world-class education sector,” Stokes said, providing an overall assessment of the transformation project and some key observations and recommendations to the ministry.

He indicated that the ETOC team has identified serious issues relating to weak accountability systems and will ensure that individuals within education are held to a world-class standard. “The transformation of education in Jamaica cannot truly happen until the ministry overseeing the sector is globally competitive in its administration and policy development. This provides the impetus and credibility to implement meaningful reforms across the wider sector.

“As indicated at our last press conference, the Mona School of Business is assisting us with this critical piece of work. I have received an initial set of recommendations from the Mona School of Business on measures to transform the ministry. The next step involves consultation with critical stakeholders before we provide feedback to the Mona School as they finalise their recommendations,” Stokes continued.