Plans are in high gear by the Education Transformation Team to implement the first phase of its modernisation mandate for the education sector this month.

Executive director of the Education Transformation Team, Dr. Frank Weeple, explained that the first stage of the two and half year-long modernisation process "will happen in a six-month inception stage and that will start this month."

Dr. Weeple said that the appointment of chief executive officers (CEOs) for agencies, which are being created to relieve the ministry of some of its responsibilities, should be completed by September. "We'll be interviewing for those in September and hope to have the chief executive officers in place by January 2008," he added.

He noted, however, that the new Regional Education Agencies, the National Education Inspectorate, the Curriculum and Assessment Agency, and the Jamaica Teaching Council would not begin operating until April 2009, "because we need to make sure that there is stability in the system, and there is time to set up these new regional agencies parallel to existing structures."

These new agencies will replace the existing regional offices of the Ministry of Education and Youth. This forms part of the government's plan to decentralise the operational functions of the ministry and give more autonomy at the regional level.