Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - Hier 21:47

Dowlath slams PNM’s vacation remedial programme

EDUCATION Minister Dr Michael Dowlath has rubbished the PNM’s administration's vacation remedial programme, saying it was “riddled with outstanding bills” and had no proper monitoring and system to measure results. Contributing to the budget debate in the House of Representatives on October 17, Dowlath dismissed as “false” claims by former education minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, in an earlier contribution, that the government had stopped the programme. He said, “What they left behind was not a coherent programme at all. It was an over-priced, poorly managed patchwork called Re-Re-engaging For Success.” Dowlath claimed the report that the PNM themselves commissioned revealed there was over $3.5 million in unpaid stipends to teachers, $1.3 million owed for snacks, $10.5 million in pending costs and no verifiable impact data, evaluation report, or clear project objectives. He further claimed there were four missing reports – one from the student support services division for that project, one from guidance counsellors, one from school social workers, and the fourth from restorative practice facilitators. Dowlath said, “There was no framework for tracking whether the thousands of students reached improved levels in literacy or numeracy. They spent millions, left the Treasury in arrears and delivered no monitoring, no accountability and no outcomes. That is not remediation, that is mismanagement.” In contrast, he said, the government has taken “decisive, data-driven action.” Dowlath said the ministry has replaced that “broken model” with the Priority Schools Project – a system built on evidence, structure and sustainability. He said the project includes 56 secondary schools and 187 primary schools, which have now been identified and targeted for intensive support based on academic attendance and behavioural indicators. “The programme integrates literacy and numeracy recovery, structured student support, teacher training, parental engagement and school leadership development, all monitored with clear, key performance indicators.” Dowlath described the remedial programme, under the PNM, as an “expensive illusion over a year of bills, no accountability, no results. “This government has replaced waste with a result-oriented transformation agenda ensuring every cent spent reaches the classroom and every intervention produces measurable change.” The San Fernando West MP also applauded the ministry’s July-August vacation repair programme. He said for the first time in the country’s history, the ministry completed 279 major repair projects across primary and secondary schools. Parallel to that, Dowlath added, 179 emergency repairs were done. “For the first time in history, a total of 458 projects were completed. In 2024, it was 159. In 2023, it was 59.” He said the works addressed leaking roofs, rewiring, sanitation and classroom restoration. Dowlath, in his contribution, also defended the Government’s decision to extend the July-August school vacation by one week. He noted the Opposition had suggested that the ministry had extended the vacation because of poor planning. “The truth is the complete opposite.” Dowlath said given his 35 years of experience as an educator, he has a good idea of how the school year runs. “When we came in, we found that the calendar was unbalanced. Disrupted curriculum delivery would have forced us to add an extra week in the next academic year just to maintain the required 39 instructional weeks. It was 15 weeks for the first term, 12 for the second and 12 for the third term. So this government corrected that mistake. “We introduced a balance of 14 weeks for the first term, 12 and 13 for the third term to ensure fairness in curriculum coverage, teacher workload and student preparation.” He said the additional week during the July-August vacation was not a delay but was meant to support mental and emotional balance for our students and teachers. . The post Dowlath slams PNM’s vacation remedial programme appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.