‘Schools are the centre of our communities’ |17 November 2012

 
This statement was made by Donald Estico, an inspectorate officer in the Ministry of Education, during an assembly this week with Minister for Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports, Vincent Meriton, and head teachers of primary and secondary schools.

Mr Estico’s statement was made during the intervention phase after a presentation by social affairs principal secretary Linda William-Melanie in regards to introducing the social renaissance plan of action to the heads of schools and focusing on their particular roles as leaders of schools.

The meeting was organised to explain to head teachers the roles they have to play in the context of the national plan of action on social renaissance.
 
Head teachers are selected for the job because they have a proven track record of educational effectiveness and possess the leadership skills necessary to lead in building a better school.

 The duties of a head teacher extend far beyond the walls of the classroom and include responsibilities that impact all members of the school community.

“The plan is asking of us to renew our effort for better outcomes,” said Minister Meriton.

 He added that “schools are the centre of the community” and called on all school educators to work constructively with district administrators, parents, teachers’ association and spiritual bodies in order to be able to work in a holistic fashion.

Minister Meriton also emphasised on the need for teachers to be “well built and equipped”, recognising that teachers need to be provided with “means and resources so as to stay in their profession” and finally “to be further equipped and given help for them to grow and mature in their position as school educators”.

Other suggestions included the need to focus more on programmes to target families so as to reduce social cases of child neglect and other forms of child abuse.

It is also felt that there is a need to assess students’ behavior in subjects which do not have end-of-term examinations like physical education (PE), physical and social education (PSE) and during religion classes.