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PC alumni calling for school’s Board to be accountable
Education Minister Priya Manickchand (standing) interacts with PC alumni
In light of the fact that a previous Chairman of the Board had abused his position, the alumni of President’s College (PC) are calling for measures to be put in place to ensure that the current Board is held accountable.
In fact this was one of the many concerns that were highlighted when officials of the Ministry of Education, including Minister Priya Manickchand, held a marathon interactive meeting with a faction of the school’s alumni along with members of the Parent-Teacher Association and the school’s administration on Saturday.
The meeting, which was held at the National Centre of Educational Resource Development (NCERD) at Kingston, Georgetown, saw one member announcing that since the past indiscretions of a previous Chairman had gone on punished, measures should be put in place to prevent a repetition.
But according to Chief Education Officer, Olato Sam, there are in fact measures in place to address such situations. He however noted that in the case of President’s College “maybe the mechanisms that are in place didn’t work for whatever reason. I can’t speak to why they may not have worked, but if there are issues with Boards, there is a process through which Boards are replaced.”
The existing Act governing the appointment of School Boards allows for them to be appointed every two years. Sam however noted that “it doesn’t have to be some statutory arrangement since issues can be raised. The Minister ultimately has responsibility for these boards and if you have any issues you can raise them with the Minister and I am sure the Minister will respond”.
And it was in order to ensure that an efficient Board was in place, Minister Manickchand said that “I had a specific hand in PC’s Board, because I didn’t want to have to constantly spend time answering some of these questions that were arising…because frankly that does no good for me.”
“The better PC does the better I look. I’d like to see (both) the Board and the administration take over these things so that we don’t have it on our desks every day,” the Minister said.
Turning her attention to the customary appointment of School Boards, Manickchand disclosed that Board members are usually identified by respective regions.
“The regions say to us who is a leader, who is a business person…but in the case of PC, I looked at it myself because I wanted to fill the Board with old students.”
This move, the Minister noted, was premised on the need to have more old students who had firsthand knowledge of the school and “what it used to be, where it is now, and how do you get back there.”
The current Board has been in operation for just about nine months, with Guyana Energy Agency’s Boss, Mahender Sharma, as its head. During Saturday’s forum, he disclosed that meetings at the school are scheduled for Thursday each week and the outcomes of those meetings are documented and can be reviewed by members of the alumni if they so desire.
According to Sharma, already the Board has been able to put in place a number of important committees: Academic, Disciplinary, Maintenance and Agriculture. He also outlined a number of measures that are being implemented as well as various shortcomings.
Manickchand, in speaking to the appointment of PC’s Board, said that Sharma was chosen for the position since she was au fait with his management abilities. “I am not disappointed so far with his management of the Board, but if you are disappointed you can tell us that,” the Minister told the gathering.
Manickchand said that she hopes that the current Board would be able to impart its institutional knowledge to the school, even as moves are made to seek the close involvement of parents in the operation of the institution.
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