s.2Interpretation
2
Section 2Part 1 — PRELIMINARY

Interpretation

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In this Act —
"assisted school" means a school that is partly funded, but not managed, by the Government;
"Chief Officer" means the Chief Officer in the Ministry responsible for education;
"child" means a person under the age of eighteen years;
"compulsory education" means a course of study whether conducted in a school or otherwise that is designed to meet the specified learning needs of an individual or group of persons of compulsory school age;
"compulsory school age" means age commencing on the date next following that upon which a child attains the age of five years before 1st September and ending on the date on which the child attains the age of seventeen years, or has met the requirements to obtain a secondary school diploma or its equivalent, whichever is earlier, or such other age bracket as may be specified by an Order made under section 11;
"corporal punishment" means the application of physical force in order to punish or correct a child, but does not include the application of force only to prevent personal injury to, or damage to or the destruction of property of, any person (including the child);
"Department of Education Services" or "Department" means the agency under the Ministry of Education, led by the Director of the Department of Education Services, responsible for education in relation to the conduct of Government schools;
"Director of the Department of Education Services" means the person appointed under the general powers provided under the Public Service Management Act (2018 Revision) who is responsible for the implementation of education policy in Government schools, and performs such other functions as are provided for in this or any other Act;
"disability" means any short term or long term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairment which significantly hinders a person's full and effective participation in society, on an equal basis with other persons;
"disciplinary penalties" means penalties imposed on a student, by a school at which education is provided for the student, where, for any reason, the student's conduct contravenes the school's Behaviour Policy established under section 27 or the school's Anti-Bullying Policy established under section 27A;
"early childhood care and education" means education provided to children under the compulsory school age in early childhood care and education centres and in reception classes (or the equivalent) in educational institutions, and includes the care, stimulation and socialisation necessary to support development and learning;
"early childhood care and education centre" means an institution that provides early childhood care and education to children under compulsory school age for at least four hours per day and includes a private residence in which care is provided to three or more children not of the same family;
"education" means a course of study whether conducted in a school or otherwise that is designed to meet the specified learning needs of an individual or group of individuals;
"educational institution" means —
a school; or
an institution that provides part-time or full-time —
early childhood care and education;
compulsory education;
post-compulsory education and training;
technical and vocational education and training;
education to prepare for the award of any degree, qualification or certification; or
education provision for persons with special education needs and disabilities;
"educational stage" means a period of at least two years of school that is defined by the educational knowledge expected of students at the end of that period;
"educational support services" means non-instructional services that support educational processes or systems and includes —
educational agency and consulting;
educational guidance counselling services;
educational testing evaluation services;
educational testing services;
organisation of student exchange programmes;
online marketing platforms that market individual programmes and schools to potential students; and
online learning platforms that allow clients to host their own courses;
"employed to work as a teacher" means being employed in circumstances where the satisfactory performance of the duties of employment depends on the application of skills derived from specialist training of the kind leading to a teaching qualification prescribed under the regulations;
"full-time education" means a minimum of five hours of curriculum instruction per day, excluding lunch and break times, for a total of at least one hundred and eighty-five days per year, or the equivalent hours per year, or any other duration of greater length as may be specified in regulations;
"governing body" means the trustees or group of persons responsible for executive decision making authority in relation to the conduct of schools or post-compulsory education and training institutions;
"Government school" means a school principally funded, and managed, by the Government;
"home school" means education for a child of compulsory school age delivered in a home setting;
"independent school" means a school wholly funded and managed from resources other than those of the Government;
"legal guardian", in relation to a child or student, means a person appointed —
by deed or will; or
by a court, to be the guardian of the child or student;
"Minister" means the member of the Cabinet for the time being charged with responsibility for education in accordance with section 54 of the Constitution set out in Schedule 2 to the Cayman Islands Constitution Order 2009 [S.I. 2009/1379];
"Ministry" means the ministry responsible for education;
"national policy" means a broad course of action or statements of guidance adopted by the Government at the national level in pursuit of national objectives;
"parent" includes a step-parent and an adopter;
"post-compulsory education and training" means education and training that is entered into after compulsory school age;
"programme of study" means the prescribed syllabus that students must be taught at each educational stage;
"reasonable accommodation" means the necessary and appropriate modification and adjustments not imposing a disproportionate or undue burden to an educational institution where needed in a particular case, to ensure to a person with special education needs or a disability, the enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with persons who do not have disabilities or special education needs, of rights, privileges, interests, benefits and treatment, and the facilitation of such rights, privileges, interests, benefits and treatment, by the provision of auxiliary aids and services, including —
assistive devices;
interpreters, technologies and effective methods of making aurally delivered and received materials available to a person with a disability;
readers, taped audio visually recorded texts or other effective methods of making visually delivered and received materials available to a person with a disability; and
physical modification to buildings and the built environment;
"reception class" means the class into which a child is admitted the year immediately prior to attaining compulsory school age;
"register" and "registration" means being recognised and recorded as meeting the standards set by the Ministry;
"regulations" means regulations prescribed under this Act;
"school" means an institution for providing compulsory education and includes —
a unit for that purpose but established in an institution that caters to other categories of education; and
a Government school, an assisted school and an independent school;
"school leader" means a person, by whatever name called, responsible for the day-to-day management of the school and for persons deployed to work at the school;
"skills development" means a longer-term or broader process of acquiring skills or knowledge by a range of different means such as coaching, formal and informal learning interventions, education or planned experience;
"special educational needs", in relation to a student, means that, by reason of characteristics of body or mind personal to the student, the student's educational needs cannot be satisfied otherwise than by making exceptional provision in relation to the student; and, for the purposes of this definition —
provision is exceptional in relation to a student if it is substantially different from that which is made for the education of the generality of persons of equivalent age and description; and
students for whom English is an additional language or who are gifted or talented are not to be treated as having special educational needs;
"student" means a person who is enrolled or attends classes at a school, college, or university;
"technical and vocational education and training" means education, training and skills development —
relating to a wide range of occupational fields, production, services and livelihoods; and
taking place, as part of lifelong learning, at secondary, post-secondary and tertiary levels; and "technical and vocational education and training" includes work-based learning and continuing training and professional development which may lead to qualifications;
"training" means an instructor-led, content-based intervention aimed at a defined population and designed to lead to the acquisition or development of specified skills or behaviour; and
"training centre for adults with disabilities" means the department within the Ministry which provides training, vocational support and therapeutic services and promotes social inclusion for adults with disabilities.
For the purposes of the definition of "reasonable accommodation", "disproportionate or undue burden" shall be determined taking into account the following factors —
the nature of the benefit likely to accrue to, or the detriment likely to be suffered by, any person concerned, including the relevant educational institution;
the effect of the relevant disability on any person concerned;
the financial circumstances of the educational institution concerned which is claiming a disproportionate or undue burden; or
the estimated amount of expenditure or other allocation of resources required by the educational institution concerned which is claiming a disproportionate or undue burden and whether it is reasonably proportionate to the benefit likely to accrue.

Defined Terms

assisted schoolChief Officerchildcompulsory educationcompulsory school agecorporal punishmentDepartment of Education ServicesDirector of the Department of Education Servicesdisabilitydisciplinary penaltiesearly childhood care and educationearly childhood care and education centreeducationeducational institutioneducational stageeducational support servicesemployed to work as a teacherfull-time educationgoverning bodyGovernment schoolhome schoolindependent schoollegal guardianMinisterMinistrynational policyparentpost-compulsory education and trainingprogramme of studyreasonable accommodationreception classregisterregulationsschoolschool leaderskills developmentspecial educational needsstudenttechnical and vocational education and trainingtrainingtraining centre for adults with disabilities

Cross References