How Are Members of The School Board at Beersheba Primary School Appointed?

Members of the School Board at Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) whose names are listed under About Us on BOSA website, are appointed by the Honourable Minister of Education on the advice of National Council on Education (NCE).

 Beersheba Elementary School which many of us Old Students attended was housed in an old dilapidated wooden building at Carr District, New Market, Saint Elizabeth that was owned by the Moravian Church in Jamaica. While we are indeed grateful to the Moravian Church for its innovation in building the wooden structure to provide formal education to the children of slave ancestors, many of us will recall the number of times we were forced to move our ink-well desks all over the floor whenever it rained.

As owner and administrator of Beersheba Elementary School which was overseen by the Moravian Minister at Carmel Moravian Church, Westmoreland, Jamaica, West Indies, the church had the privilege to appoint as many practicing Moravian members to the School Board as it wished.

Thanks to James “Dick” Richards, (1876 – 1965), an Alumnus of Beersheba Elementary School, a native of Carr District, New Market, Saint Elizabeth, Jamaica, West Indies, Soldier, Self-made Businessman, and Philanthropist (“Bermuda King”), who saw the need for a new school and used his own funds from wealth he acquired in Bermuda to purchase the land on which Beersheba Primary School (Government Leased) which was built by the Ministry of Education now stands.

 The lease that the Moravian Church in Jamaica has given to the Ministry of Education to build Beersheba Primary School and to develop, oversee governance, and regulate the school’s curricula in accordance with The Education Act, essentially means that the appointment of members of the School Board has become the full responsibility of the Ministry of Education. Based on acquiescence in the lease, the Moravian Church is afforded the privilege to have one member on the School Board whom the Honourable Minister of Education on the advice of National Council on Education (NEC) appoints as Chairman of the School Board.