The Anguilla House of Assembly has approved amendments to a law to allow for enhanced efficiency in administrative processes at Anguilla Community College.
The Anguilla Community College (Amendment) Act, 2024 went through its second and third reading and was passed by all members during the latest meeting of the assembly on 28 January.
On presenting the bill, education minister Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers said the law which established the college in February 2009 has only ever had a few revisions.
“But the needs of the Anguilla Community College have changed over the course of the years, and requires significant amendments,” she said.
Kentish-Rogers explained that previous wording of the law restricted the college in sealing documents and meant it relied too much on the registrar.
“The proposed amendments allow for the college to continue to function effectively, if, for some reason, the registrar is unavailable,” she said.
She went on to say that it will also allow for the registrar to focus solely on registrar duties, and human resource duties will instead be the responsibility of the human resource officer.
This will allow for more effective management of these functions as they were previously spread across different portfolios, the education minister continued.
Kentish-Rogers told members that further changes to the description of the function of the college, the academic divisions, staffing and governance, will all help to improve efficiency.
The aim is to “ensure that all students are provided with a college that meets their needs”, she said.
No members stood to debate the bill, which the education minister accepted as an indication of the “general support of the entire house”.
She explained that there were many instances in which the registrar was required to fulfil the substantive role of nearly four other jobs, creating a situation in which inefficiency was a common issue.
“These amendments speak to our ability to actually make the Anguilla Community College a fit for purpose institution, to meet the needs of our students, and to ensure that the responsibilities undertaken by persons in professional roles are able to be actioned,” she said.
Anguilla Community College in Long Path is a higher education institution, offering a range of academic and vocational programme.
