NAME OF FEATURE | THE GLEANER | MONDAY, JANUARY 31, 2022 15 JAMAICA AT 60: MANCHESTER Paul H. Williams/Gleaner Writer IN THE days of slavery in Jamaica, the children of colonists were educated mainly in private spaces by governesses or visiting personal tutors. At a certain age, some were sent away to study in Europe and America to a certain extent. Yet in the 18th century, five schools were established for the children of the plantocracy: Wolmer’s Boys’ (1729), Manning’s (1738), St Jago High (1744), Rusea’s (1777), and Titchfield (1786). And, of course, the education of the enslaved was never a big factor until the Apprenticeship System was established in 1834. That year, the British government’s Negro Education Grant became available for church schools, which were the only formal educational institutions at the time. The grant initially disbursed £30,000, which continuously dwindled until it dried up in 1845. It was used mainly to help in the erection of school buildings. Yet it was financially onerous for the denominations to operate these schools, especially after full Emancipation in 1838 as more and more freed people attended. There was little or no assistance from the Government, and people likeWilliam Knibb did not keep quiet about it. It is said that he complained to aMr Dyer, his missions’ secretary in London, in 1835 that there were 2,500 apprentices in Trelawny, but there was not one public school. In 1836, Knibb and other missionaries did receive some financial aid, but because of the conditions attached to the assistance by the Government, the Missionary Society refused the aid and left it up to the missionaries to accept or reject. In 1837, the missionaries in the north of the island decided not to accept aid from the Government. The involvement of the Church in the education of the children of the colonists and the formerly enslaved did not take a break nonetheless. More and more schools were established, and more help from Government came in 1868. The aid was limited to the maintenance of buildings, the payment of teachers, and the setting-up of an inspectorate to determine which institutions shouldget aid fromtheGovernment. Eventually, the Government took responsibility for the payment of teachers. It built schools in areas where there were no church schools. In collaboration with the denominations, Government was operating some of these institutions as public schools, creating a Board of Education in 1845. Forty years from then, a commission was appointed to inquire into the state of elementary education. The commission’s final report was submitted in 1886. In 1892, the Elementary Education Bill was passed. The following year, free elementary education was instituted. And it is said that the first primary school in Manchester for the children of formerly enslaved people was established at Lititz, which is now regarded as part of St Elizabeth by the Ministry of Education. The Anglican Church, long regarded as the church for the local elite, was integral in the establishment of schools in Manchester. Church Teachers’ College, Bishop Gibson High School, and deCarteret College are the ones brought to mind. And Manchester High School is sited on property once owned by the Anglican Church. Though the Catholic Church is not featured heavily in the literature, its contribution to education in the parish of Manchester is quite visible. There is the Mount St Joseph Catholic High School, which is located at the same place as the former St Paul of the Cross Catholic School. Mount St Joseph Preparatory School is sited on the former Mount St Joseph Academy’s compound. Sacred Heart Academy is at Sacred Heart Church, and the Catholic College of Mandeville is a post-secondary institution. Other notable church-owned schools in Manchester are the first Presbyterian Theological College in Jamaica, near the New Broughton Church, and the United Church’s International University of the Caribbean Mandeville campus. At Maidstone, the first free village in Manchester, theMoraviansestablished a school nowcalledNazarethPrimary. The influence of the Seventh-day Adventist Church on education in Manchester is well documented. Since the early 1890s, it has established institutions at all levels of the school hierarchy. The best-known adventist institutions in Manchester are those associated with Northern Caribbean University (NCU), the oldest private tertiary institution in Jamaica, and was first known as West IndianTraining School, located in St Catherine. It began with eight students in 1907, offering classes up to the 12th grade. Following a temporary closure in 1913, it resumedoperations in1919 in Manchester. In 1936, it was renamed West Indian Training College. As its offerings developed to include theology, teacher education, secretarial science, business, and natural sciences, it became a junior college. It achieved senior college status in the late 1950s when it began to offer the bachelor’s degree in theology, andwas renamed West Indies College in 1959. Forty years later, the college was granted university status and was renamedNorthernCaribbeanUniversity. The group also includes NCU Early Childhood Institution, thedecades-old West Indies College Preparatory School, andVictor DixonHigh School (formerlyWest Indies College High). The 2018-2019directory of schools in Jamaica indicates that the public-school system in Manchester has three infant, 51 primary, two all-age, four primary and junior high, one technical, 13 high schools, and one teachers’college. On the independent schools’ side, there are 18 kindergarten/prep, one secondary with prep school, five high, 22 post-secondary, and two special-needs schools. MANCHESTER A CRADLE FOR EDUCATION Manchester High School. Church Teachers’ College, Manchester. FILE PHOTOS jamaica at And it is said that the first primary school in Manchester for the children of formerly enslaved people was established at Lititz, which is now regarded as part of St Elizabeth ... .
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