PM Roosevelt Skerrit holds constructive education reform consultation with teachers and PTA representative

Dominica: Prime Minister Dr Roosevelt Skerrit held a consultation meeting on education reform at the State House Conference Centre on Saturday. During the consultation, PM Skerrit met with primary school principals and teachers, describing the meeting as constructive and positive.

He shared, “We met with principals and senior teachers of all the primary schools in Dominica at 10:30 AM. That went on until about 1:30 PM.” PM Skerrit further added that it was a constructive engagement with optimistic suggestions received from the principles and senior teachers in attendance at the meeting.

“It was a very constructive engagement, very positive suggestions coming out from them in respect to what we believe the education reform should look like and the good thing is there is agreement that the system needs to change a bit,” stated the Prime Minister of Dominica.

He also met with representatives of the PTAs who were present at the consultation ceremony from all over the country. “From 2:30 PM we met with representatives of the PTAs across the country, and that itself was also very constructive,” shared PM Skerrit.

According to the Prime Minister, everyone present at the meeting agreed that some changes are now needed in the education sector. “They made suggestions of what they believe those changes should comprise of and the next step is to have a national symposium where we invite a wide cross-section of stakeholders and, of course, a national team to look at how we fashion that reform that will take effect in September of 2025,” explained PM Skerrit.

He kept going, explaining that reform is an evolving process, so the country will not have to roll out every single idea that will be put on the table in September. However, the most important thing according to him is to get started. 

The prime minister then noted that the world has shifted in huge ways. “There are many more opportunities, there are many more challenges, but the system that we have was tailored for a particular point in time [and] that point in time has long gone,” said PM Skerrit.

The Prime Minister of Dominica stated that this is not a challenge or issue only for one nation; but the entire world. He added that the countries are discussing changing their education system to make it more responsive and adaptable to the present challenges of the world.