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Poverty to Prosperity
Budget Presentation
Gordon House March 19, 2015
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The National Student Registry, to uniquely identify and track all students in the
education system, and develop a basis for the implementation of National Education
Information System, would lead to better resource management.
The implementation of the School Safety Policy and the deployment of Deans of
Discipline in schools, which saw to the reduction of violence and disruptive behaviour
in schools.
The Career Advancement Programme, to treat with the large number of unattached
youths between 16 and 19, who could not be absorbed into HEART programmes
because of space constraints or inability to meet the minimum grade 9 matriculation
requirements.
The Centres of Excellence policy which created a new scheme of management for
which all new schools should be operated, the first being the Belmont Academy in
Westmoreland, and then the Steer Town Academy in St.Ann.
And most importantly Mr. Speaker, the Tuition-Free Policy, to ensure that all
Jamaican children will be able to access education without facing obligatory and
oftentimes exclusionary fees.
Mr. Speaker these are a few of the transformative policies and programmes we were
able to establish. The flow through effect was seen in a doubling of students who met
the minimum matriculation requirement for tertiary level education in 5 years. The effect
of this was directly displayed in the tertiary enrolment numbers. In 2006, 65,872
persons were enrolled in tertiary institutions, there were 6,632 applications for student
loans and approximately JA$800m was disbursed. At the end of 2011, 74,601 students