JIS: The Government of Jamaica has provided $461 million for continued implementation of the education transformation programme under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.
The allocation, which is contained in the 2018/2019 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives, will provide for execution of National Standard Curriculum (NSC) workshops for grades two, three, five and six; complete the revision of the National Assessment Programme (NAP) for grades two, six and nine; and commence the transition of staff to the modernised structure.
It will also provide for implementation of the human resource, school management, and documentation and file management systems; and support the modernisation legislative agenda, as well as policies on special education, security and safety, school improvement and placement.
Started in March 2010, the programme, which is being funded by the Government in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), aims to transform and modernise the education system.
It will seek to provide approximately 2,100 additional secondary-school spaces in an effort to support the Ministry’s policy to expand compulsory education from ages 16 to 18, operationalise new agencies that are key to improving capacity for delivering high-quality education, and set up mechanisms to mobilise additional resources for the education sector.
A number of targets were achieved up to December 2017 and include roll-out of the NSC at grades one, four and seven to nine; 75 per cent completion of the National Assessment Programme (NAP) revision for grade six, five per cent at grade two and 10 per cent at grade nine; consultation on the drafted Special Education Policy; and the completion and preparation of a concept note for implementation of the ‘School to Work’ transition and APEX programme.
In addition, select Ministry offices were refurbished and a new system was procured to improve efficiency at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information.
The programme was originally slated to be completed in March 2014, but has since been extended to December 2018.
CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid. (FILE)