EDUCATION NEEDS all the support it can get. The Government cannot do it alone. When viewed against the glaring resource needs of the system and the serious budgetary problems of the Government, we can only view with scepticism the Prime Minister's recent announcement that cost-sharing at the secondary level will be phased out.
It was critical shortfalls in the system that killed the 20-year experiment in free education launched by the PNP administration of the 1970s and led to the re-introduction of cost-sharing as a practical solution. Numbers may be kept up but when resources decline, quality follows.
Many, including the Leader of the Opposition, have argued that greater attention should be given to Early Childhood Education and that more of the scarce resources of the state should be channelled into this foundation level. Last week, we reported that the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) has launched a programme to provide support for the nutritional needs of children in some basic schools across the island. Several other companies in corporate Jamaica have adopted a school or a programme.
The JPSCo's Nutritional Support Programme in partnership with the Ministry of Education will match Government's nutrition grant to these schools. Government already has a School Feeding Programme at the primary level. It is well established that school-based nutritional support is a powerful aid to learning and an incentive for attendance. At the early stages when the brain and intellectual capabilities are developing most, nutritional support is even more critical.
The utilities company also plans to donate used furniture, such as desks and chairs and filing cabinets, to basic schools and has already been assisting with Information Technology (IT) in these schools. IT is an area in which more companies could do more for education at minimal costs to themselves. Computers in good working order but thrown out for newer models could be perfectly useful as educational tools and could be donated to schools.
There is plenty of room in a needy educational system for companies to adopt a school or a school programme and lend a corporate hand to improving conditions and performance. Some time ago, the Build Jamaica Foundation announced its plans to provide toilets for some basic schools with poor facilities. So there are all kinds of interesting possibilities for support and we want to encourage greater involvement.
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