THE BUCK STOPS WITH THE MINISTER

Aug 20, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

There are two recent developments at the Ministry of Education that I feel are worthy of comment, as they could be indicative of the quality of leadership there. The recent CSEC results were celebrated by the Honourable Minister with a full-page advertisement with her picture, suggesting that she is taking credit for the performance of the nation’s children. At the same time, there was an error made in relation to the top CAPE student and the Ministry was quick to publish a letter of apology from the Superintendent of Examinations taking responsibility for the error. The latter left a sour taste in my mouth since the little I know about leadership says to me that true leaders take responsibility for everything—good and bad—that occur under their watch and do not throw their subordinates under the bus. At the end of the day, the buck stops with the Minister and she should be equally bold in accepting that responsibility and such a letter should have been strictly an internal affair. Events like this truly demoralise public servants and the Minister should be reminded that she will need the full input of these same individuals in the not too distant future and internal measures should have been instituted. While people must be held accountable, they need to know that if and when something goes wrong they will not be publicly hung out to dry since no system is infallible.

Nikita Williams

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