Implementation of JETC report to prioritise improving early childhood education
/ Our Today
administrator
Following findings of the recently released Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC) report, Commission Chair, Professor Orlando Patterson, says strengthening the early childhood education sector will be prioritised in the implementation of the report’s recommendations.
According to Patterson, implementation of the report’s recommendations is expected to commence in September, with an external group to monitor the process.
Speaking with officials from the Early Childhood Commission on Monday (June 6), the Chairman stated: “Early childhood is going to be… priority number one. It is going to be upfront.”
He informed that the sector forms a “vital component” of the report, as it influences educational development in the later years of children.
Patterson highlighted that Jamaica “spends adequately” on education in comparison with other countries at the “level of our development”.
“We actually spend a significant proportion of our national income on education; we are in the top 17 per cent of nations in terms of the amount/proportion of our national income that is allocated to the education budget,” shared the professor.
He reported that coming out of his visit to the May Pen Primary School in Clarendon, he is “very impressed” with the principal and staff at the institution.
He noted that students travel more than one hour to get to the school and that “the parents are willing to
take on that burden in order to get there,” to emphasise what parents will do once they expect good results.
Patterson, who has been visiting key institutions since May 30 to engage with and get feedback on the Commission’s report, said the group is hoping that technical and vocational education will be included at the primary-school level.
Recommendations from the report will be executed in collaboration with the Education Transformation Oversight Committee (ETOC), which is responsible for monitoring and reporting on the progress made.
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