Education Bill 2015
Summary Notes
June 2015
The Education Bill (2015) has been released for public consultation. A summary of the critical
changes proposed in the Bill is listed, as follows.

Part 2, Education Functions of Governmental Authority: changes were made to
provide further clarity with respect to the specific role and functions of the Minister, and
the role of the Education Council. Provisions were also made to allow for increasing
opportunities for Private Public Partnerships in education.

Part 3, Registration of Educational Institutions: the law also requires the registration
of educational institutions. The law prohibits persons from owning, managing or
participating in the management of a non-Government educational institution, unless the
institution is registered.

Part 4, School Attendance, Admissions and Access to Education: establishes the
starting of school age as 5 years at the start of Year 1, which is currently enforced only
through policy. The law also sets out the duty of parents or legal guardians of compulsory
school age children to ensure that the children receive full-time education suitable to their
requirements, either by attendance at school or by home-schooling. This part of the Bill
also provides greater clarity on the right to home-school children, which is entirely absent
from the current law.

Part 5 National Curriculum and Educational Stage Assessment: empowers the
Minister to establish a national curriculum in government schools and requires all
programmes of study undertaken in the final stage of compulsory education to be
accredited and recognised within the Cayman Islands National Qualifications Framework.
There is further provision that the Minister may require studies relating to the history and
culture of the Islands to be taught in all schools, both public and private, registered in the
Islands.

Part 6, Quality Assurance of Schools: establishes the Office of Education Quality
Assurance, staffed by a Director and other officers. The Director or their designate is
empowered to enter educational institutions, for the pursuance of the Director’s functions,
and to examine and require the production of documents, for the purpose of quality
assurance. The law further empowers the Minister to recommend to the Cabinet the
closure of a school where there are immediate health or safety issues. The law also
requires an annual report on the overall outcomes of quality assurances to be laid in the
Legislative Assembly, in order to demonstrate that minimum standards are being met.

Part 9, Technical and Vocational Education and Training, and Part 10, Post
Compulsory Education and Training: now provide for TVET in the schools, and the
establishment and regulation of post-compulsory education and training institutions,
respectively.

Part 11, Early Childhood Education: bring requirements in line with international best
practice, including standardising the terminology to Early Childhood Care and Education
(ECCE). The law prohibits persons from operating an ECCE centre, unless the centre is
registered. It also prohibits corporal punishment in any ECCE centre. Furthermore the law
empowers the Cabinet to make regulations, among other things, prescribing standards with
regard to safety, security, and sanitation for the efficient operation of an ECCE centre.

Part 12, Discipline and Prohibition of Corporal Punishment in Schools: the law
prohibits corporal punishment from being administered in all schools, and requires schools
to have a written Student Behaviour and Discipline Policy that includes the disciplinary
penalties to be applied and the procedures for the enforcement of the penalties. The law
sets out the disciplinary authority of teachers and defines the circumstances in which
reasonable force may be used, by specified persons, for the purpose of preventing a student
from doing certain things (for example, committing an offence).

Part 13, Special Educational Needs: the law defines students with special educational
needs whose educational needs can only be satisfied by making exceptional provision in
relation to the student. The law empowers the Minister to publish a Code of Practice on
Special Educational Needs, and contains provisions governing the referral for assessment
and the assessment of a student who is identified as having special educational needs. The
law further provides for the outcome of the assessment to be set out in a statement of
eligibility, which enables the relevant student to receive education in accordance with the
statement.
Schools are required by the law to report on the extent of provision made in the school,
for special educational needs. The law also contains provisions relating to the special
educational needs of persons who are not of compulsory school age.

Part 16, Miscellaneous: includes a section making it an offence to create a disturbance on
school premises. This section also makes it a requirement for schools and ECCE centres to
have a Child Protection Policy in compliance with the Children’s Law (2012 Revision).