REJECTING the view that they are under-performing, Jamaica’s education officers say they are responding to problems in the island’s schools and working to improve the output of students.

In fact, they maintain they are up to the challenge of leading the much-discussed transformation of Jamaica’s education system.

Education officers, who number more than 200 across the island, play an important role in the education sector – they develop, test and supervise the curriculum in public schools, report on their physical condition, and monitor the performance of students and teachers in the system.

But last year, the outspoken president of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Hopeton Henry, injured the pride of the officers when he described them as one of the laziest set of civil servants on the island.

Now, following letters of correspondence and meetings, the JTA and education officers are on better terms, having put Henry’s criticism into perspective.

“I wrote him (Henry) a letter and pointed out how unfortunate it was for him to say something like that,” said president of the Jamaica Association of Education Officers (JAEO) Maureen Dwyer. “That is not our record of the performance of our officers at all. If there was a situation where he had difficulty with a particular officer, he should approach that officer or talk to the JAEO if he wanted to take it to the next level.”

At the same time, Dwyer said education officers are involved in “developing, testing and supervising the curriculum and provide support material such as charts, videos, or anything to support the implementation and sustenance of the curriculum”.

There are also specialists in writing and testing for the examinations under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Youth. They include the Grade Four Literacy Test, the Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT) and the crucial Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

The JAEO president said, meanwhile, that despite last year’s comments by Henry, her organisation has a good working relationship with the JTA.

“We are both working towards the same end, which is the development of students who can take their place in the society,” she said.

Henry still maintains that some education officers, like others in education – including teachers – need to pull up their socks.

“In the same way I have identified problems with teachers and with personnel at every level of the education system, some education officers are not performing, and we have to ensure that when job appraisals are done, we are able to seek interventions for those who are weak in any area,” Henry said.

He agreed that the working relationship between JTA and the JAEO was positive, and that he was looking forward to a future meeting with the education officers.

Dwyer insists the ministry, through the education officers, has been responding to problems in the education sector. So why is it that some public schools have more than 80 per cent of their children reading well at grade four, while others have less than 50 per cent?

“Although I am not speaking on behalf of the ministry, in my opinion the system has responded, because now we have a literacy coordinator for the island and one per parish,” said Dwyer.

She added that the next step was to place literacy specialists in all the schools, but noted that the problem would not be resolved quickly.

“You are not going to see the results tomorrow because it’s not a situation that was created overnight,” she said.

Her comments come against the background of recently released results of the performance of students in the GFLT in 2005.

In region one – which covers Kingston, St Andrew and St Thomas, schools like Jessie Ripoll Primary and Excelsior Primary – more than 90 per cent of students achieved mastery in the test. But at Cockburn Gardens Primary and Junior High and Maverley Primary, less than 40 per cent of students achieved mastery.

Still, the education officers say they are ready for the transformation process.

“We welcome any initiative that will bring improvement to our schools, and we are looking to give leadership and guidance to the process,” Dwyer said.