Who Is Sir Hamid Patel, UK's New Education Office Chair?
Sir Hamid Patel has been appointed as the interim Chair of the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), Children’s Services and Skills in England. The government of the UK has confirmed the news of the appointment of Sir Hamid.
In the new role, Hamid will oversee the organization’s strategic direction and governance until a permanent chair is appointed. Dame Christine Ryan, was heading the OFSTED who announced in November that she would be stepping down this year.
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Before this appointment, Sir Hamid was an Ofsted board member since 2019. He will serve for a period of upto 5 months until a new substantive Chair is appointed.
Sir Hamid is also the Chief Executive of Star Academies, a multi-academy trust operating 36 primary and secondary schools across Lancashire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, the Midlands, and London.
Under his leadership, Star Academies has been recognized as one of the top-performing multi-academy trusts in England. Also, Sir Hamid serves as the Vice Chair of the National Institute of Teaching, chairs both the Cabinet Office’s independent Education Honours Committee and the Confederation of School Trusts, and holds an honorary professorship in education at the University of Birmingham.
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His contributions to education have been acknowledged through his appointment as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2015 and a knighthood in 2021. However, he has not been appointed as the Education Minister. The role of Education Minister is a governmental position currently held by another individual.
However, people does not seem happy with his appointment as one of the users on social media while sharing the news calls the appointment as joke. “He, Sir Hamid Patel, has been appointed interim chairman of OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) in England. It sounds like a joke but it isn’t”, the user writes.
