Approximately $159 million has been allocated to complete phase II of the Ministry of Education and Youth’s Education System Transformation Programme in the new fiscal year.

The sum is contained in the 2023/24 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.

The programme will be implemented by the National Education Trust (NET) and funded by the Government of Jamaica.

The programme’s main objective is to advance the education sector’s modernisation and build on initiatives already executed.

These include improving the management of school plants, human and capital resources and student outcomes by 2025/26, and improving school efficiency and administration by establishing a management framework.

Other objectives are to increase student access to quality secondary-school places through the construction of six new Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) and one Visual and Performing Arts secondary-level institutions by 2028/29.