Principals must comply with provisions of Data Protection Act – Williams
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Ministry of Education and Youth has engaged school principals to ensure that they are in compliance with provisions under the new Data Protection Act.
On December 1 the Act came into effect. It provides greater safeguards for the handling of personal information of Jamaicans held in physical or electronic form.
This legislation was passed in 2020 and is set to transform the way organisations manage personal data, including the collection, storage, utilisation, disclosure, and disposal.
“We are working up to speed with it, because all of our schools are now data-controlled, as the education system collects mountains of data on every student, every parent and teachers,” said Minister of Education and Youth Fayval Williams.
She was delivering the keynote address at the handover of a smart-room at the Homestead Primary and Infant School in St Catherine recently.
READ: Homestead Primary and Infant to get smart room
Under the new law, organisations or individuals, defined as data controllers, are required to register with the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) and pay an annual fee.
The OIC is responsible for monitoring compliance with the Act and attendant regulations, as well as advising the Government on matters relating to data protection; disseminating information to the public in relation to the operation of the Act; and preparing and distributing guidelines that promote good practices to be adhered to by data controllers.
Williams said that great emphasis is being placed on what the law covers, how the data is secured, and “who has access to it, and who it is passed on to”.
“We have to ensure that we have systems in place to help us to manage the data that we collect, because there are heavy fines if it is found that there are data breaches,” she added.
Meanwhile, the minister called on school administrators to “enhance” their teaching with the use of technology, and in the administration of the schools, so that “you can focus more on where it matters most, in the classrooms, helping our students”.
– JIS
