Education Minister Dr Dana Morris Dixon says the Government has outlined the 2028/2029 academic year as its timeline to fully eliminate the shift system in all public schools.

Morris Dixon gave the commitment during her address to delegates at the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) 61st annual conference, held at the Princess Grand Hotel in Green Island, Hanover, on Wednesday (August 20).

“We have a programme in the ministry where we’ve identified all the schools that are still on shift, and that is our deadline to get them off,” Morris Dixon said.

Some 27 schools continue to operate on the shift programme in Jamaica.

However, over the next two financial years, six of these schools are expected to be removed from the system as part of ongoing investments in school infrastructure.

“Obviously, some schools need construction. Also, we may need to do additional classrooms. There is a programme that is there [to address all of this], and so the timeline is the 2028/2029 academic year to have all schools moved off of the shift,” the minister said.

In the meantime, Morris Dixon said, new classrooms and other infrastructure will be constructed where necessary to meet this deadline.

For the current financial year, the Government has allocated J$628 million for school repairs and maintenance, the minister noted.

The minister said that among the beneficiaries for this funding are Lucky Valley Primary, which will receive termite treatment; Fort George Primary and Infant, which will have roof repairs completed; and Seaview Gardens Primary, which will benefit from roof waterproofing.

She noted that other projects will include the rehabilitation of Oracabessa Primary and Boundbrook Primary, among several others across the nation.

“Also, I will note that last year, after Hurricane Beryl, one of the things I was very happy to see was that after the hurricane, financing was provided to fix the schools that had been damaged,” Dr. Morris Dixon outlined.

“I was so happy when I saw the supplementary budget where we got over J$2 billion to fix that next set of schools that had been damaged by Hurricane Beryl. So, this year, there are 202 schools that are going to be benefiting from the new capital projects that we will be doing,” she added.

Morris Dixon said that while not every school can be addressed at once, the ministry is committed to steadily expanding the level of support and will continue to advocate for increased funding to meet the needs of institutions island-wide.