Primary and infant schools to receive more financial support | News

Primary and infant schools are to receive increased financial support under the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information’s new school funding model, as the Government directs more resources towards strengthening education at the foundational level.

The increased investment forms part of approximately $757 million redirected to schools to improve educational outcomes and provide stronger support for students as they progress through the system.

Portfolio Minister, Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, provided details during an address on Tuesday at day one of the Region 3 Back-to-School Leadership Summit for principals and school board chairs of 123 institutions, held at Ocean Coral Spring Resort in Trelawny.

“We have to prioritise funding of the infant and the primary schools, and so that’s why when you get your numbers, you’re going to have a bigger increase if you are a primary school than if you are a high school,” she said.

“The quantum of the increase for those schools would be more, and that was deliberate, because remember, as a strategy, you’re not going to get the outcome you want at the top if don’t start at the base.”

Dr Morris-Dixon said the increase averages approximately 50 per cent in operating funding provided by the ministry, although the level of increase varies among institutions.

The funding is being consolidated into four major areas: compensation grant, nutritional support, operational grant, and a new special grant for special needs.

Some schools already received tranches of funding in June and will be given a document to show the breakdown of their funding.

“In this area (Region 3), Aabuthnott Gallimore High School would have been one that we see a significant increase; Albert Town Primary, that one almost doubled in terms of the operational grant. St Christopher School for the Deaf, that was over 100 per cent increase also,” she said.

Senator Morris-Dixon said special education is also receiving greater attention, noting that Jamaica needs significantly more spaces for children with special needs.

“Right now, I’m focused on getting the schools back up and the repairs done, but we have to divert some attention to the issue of special needs,” she said.

“The numbers are exploding globally, and it’s exploding in Jamaica. It’s important that they’re more integrated than necessarily the standalones. We have to do some standalones, but we also have to have the departments in the schools, and so that’s an area that we’re going to be spending some more time on.”

The minister also stressed the need to address the gap faced by special-needs students after they leave school, noting that many remain at home without meaningful engagement.

“Our special needs children, many of them just stay home. There is no engagement for them after they leave at 21, if that’s the age that their special needs school takes them, and that’s not acceptable,” she said.

Dr Morris-Dixon explained that measures are already in place to develop teachers for children with special needs through scholarship opportunities.

– JIS

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