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Poverty to Prosperity
Budget Presentation
Gordon House March 19, 2015
10
dream of things that never were and say why not, instead of accepting things as they are,
status quo, and ask why bother?
Mr. Speaker the education system is the best vehicle for emancipation from mental slavery.
There are approximately 800,000 Jamaicans between 3 and 24 years of age enrolled in the
education system, representing approximately 75% of the total school age population. At
any one time close to a third of the country is under the direct institutional control and
direction of the state through the education system.
This is the most powerful instrument of government to bring about, social and
economic change,
renew hope and rebuild the confidence of the people.
In 2003, under a bipartisan resolution a 14 member Education Transformation Taskforce
was established to review the entire education system and make recommendations. The
Report was presented to Parliament in December 2004 and approved. Since then changes
have been made to the management, structure, content, and infrastructure of education.
We cannot say definitively, however, that we have transformed education according to the
goals set by the report 10 years ago.
Mr. Speaker, I took over the Ministry of Education three years into the transformation
project. During my tenure I expanded the scope of the Taskforce recommendations. Some
of the recommendations by the Taskforce were just about ready to be operationalized, and
others needed to be re-evaluated and reshaped given the passage of time and new
executive priorities.