THE Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC) is reporting that work has commenced on 136 recommendations targeted for implementation in the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC) report.

Chairman Dr Adrian Stokes made the disclosure while addressing Thursday’s ETOC press conference held at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) Regional Headquarters in St Andrew.

He said that seven of the 136 initiatives have been finalised and 129 are in progress.

“Of the 129 initiatives currently under way, 128 of them are on track and one initiative is lagging. Overall, ETOC sees this as good progress being made with implementation,” he said.

The seven initiatives that have been finalised are the structural review of the National Council on Education to strengthen its capacity; preparation and dissemination of National Education Inspectorate (NEI) inspection reports; making reports on school financials public; conducting an institutional review of the Early Childhood Commission (ECC); requesting approval for increased budget to support in-service training of early childhood practitioners; training of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) officers; and work to improve the capacity of pre-service teachers at all level of the education system.

Dr Stokes said that the lagging initiative is the Jamaica Teaching Council Bill.

“That Bill is still going through the various parliamentary review procedures before it is finalised,” he said, urging that the process be fast-tracked “so that we can begin to see the benefits of the legislation in the education sector”.

ETOC has been charged with monitoring the implementation of 365 recommendations contained in the JETC report, which was chaired by Professor Orlando Patterson.

Launched in July 2020, the JETC was mandated to comprehensively review and assess Jamaica’s education system, including its structure, operation and processes, and recommend an action plan for change.