Education Enhancement Project will Improve Quality of Education

Education Minister Petter Saint Jeans says the recently launched Education Enhancement Project (EEP) “will ensure the transformation of the school culture [in Dominica] and ultimately ensure [our] long-term economic survival.” Saint Jean made the statement yesterday while addressing the ceremony of the official launch of project at the Public Service Training Center.

Funded through an EC$4 million loan from the Caribbean Development Bank, the Education Enhancement Project will focus on the development of the human resource capacity within the education system, the improvement of quality in education provision and plant construction and management.

Under the human resource capacity component, scholarships will be provided to sixty teachers to pursue degree level teacher education and specialized skills training in technical/vocational skills as well as counseling and special education. The Minister noted that at least one individual will be trained as a clinical psychologist to assist in the identification and treatment of students with learning or behavioral problems. A number of primary and secondary school teachers will also benefit from a number of short-term workshops and courses

The quality of learning and education at both the primary and secondary schools will also be enhanced through the provision of basic equipment and supplies with the emphasis being on the provision of such supplies for the teaching of technical and vocation subjects at the secondary level. “This should aid in ensuring an improvement in the performance of our males at the various schools” Saint Jean said.

A number of existing school plants around the island will also be upgraded to cater for the technical and vocational training.

According to Saint Jean, high quality education requires a learning environment which is modern, comfortable and conducive to students learning. He said it promotes effective supervision and facilitates teaching which provides avenues for developing academic as well as technical competencies in students.

“High quality education is grounded on relevance… Quality education embraces the difference in students, respects diversity and recognizes the fact that every individual is unique and has as a repertoire of skills and competencies. The schools should therefore provide students with a broad based education which would allow all of them to be globally competitive” he said.

The Minister expressed the hope that the educational experienced at Dominica’s schools would be “enriched immensely” as a consequence of the Educational Enhancement Project