CAY HILL–Antonio Aventurin has stepped down from the Advanced Vocational Education (AVE) board, which oversees the National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA).
He submitted his resignation in writing to the board on Tuesday, August 1, and the resignation was formalised by the board on Wednesday, August. 2, an AVE representative told The Daily Herald.
Education Minister Silveria Jacobs told reporters at the weekly Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday, that Joseph Rogers has been hired “in the past couple of weeks,” as the Interim Executive Director of NIPA. Jacobs said Rogers is a person with experience as he served as Executive Director of the School Board for Secondary Education SVOBE for several years. Rogers will remain in the interim post until a candidate can be found to take up the position permanently. Interviews are being conducted for a director, which Jacobs said will, hopefully be finalised soon and NIPA “can then move ahead in terms of allowing the board to resort to its supervisory function.”
The minister said she has taken note of the “many negative comments” that had been made in social media regarding NIPA. She had received the last report from the Inspectorate of Education on June 27, which did not include the latest issues at the institute. The report, however, alluded to the board having to make decisions related to teaching contracts without having a clear indication on how many students are enrolled. Jacobs said many do not understand how the programmes run at the Secondary Vocational Education SBO institution.
Some courses run for a duration of one year, some for two, some for three and others for four years, therefore, it would “not be good business,” to have just one or two students for a course, which Jacobs said appears to have been the case, in a couple of cases this year. She also said that the Inspectorate has informed the board that its carrying capacity for teachers was more than the number of students registered.
One of the board’s recommendations is an increased marketing programme. Contracts also have to be regulated in a timelier manner. The “lateness” of some of the information, she says, added to some of the furore facing the institution lately. The final decisions on whether certain staff can be kept or not was indicated “quite late,” which was seen as a threat. “These things needed to be done in a more timely manner… Seeing the situation and all the fires that had to be put out in the past two to three months, these also contributed to the backlog as these are not full time jobs that the board members have.”
She said the board has to sometimes make hard decisions, but stressed that the decisions have to be made in a timely manner. She expressed hope that with increased marketing, increased vigilance, with efficiency and effective processes being put in place including a more permanent management, that confidence will be restored in NIPA. The minister said she will continue to monitor the situation at NIPA.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/68188-aventurin-resigns-from-ave-board-rogers-nipa-interim-exec-director
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