Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information Dana Morris Dixon has pledged that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government would ease the rising cost of education for parents, especially those in rural communities.

“We definitely understand the burden that a lot of our parents feel,” said Morris Dixon, who was speaking at the General Election Debate on the Economy Tuesday night. “And it is for that reason that we have focused quite a bit on how we can get our children to school.”

Drawing on her own visits to schools across the island, the minister painted a vivid picture of what some teachers are facing on the ground.

“When I go to school on a Friday, classes are sometimes half empty. And when you ask our teachers why, they say: ‘Money ran out. High cost of lunch.’ That’s what we have decided to focus on,” she added.

Morris Dixon highlighted the Rural School Bus System as a key policy the JLP is prioritising to address the economic strain on parents. She recounted the story of a mother in St Thomas who pays $1,200 per day to send just one of her children to school—a reality that often forces difficult choices about which child attends.

“We cannot have a country like that,” Morris Dixon declared.

The minister also emphasised a raft of initiatives already underway or in the pipeline. “We have expanded meals to five days a week for those on PATH, and we’re now going to be adding breakfast to our students in our schools that are the most underperforming. We understand the cost and we’re working hard, including in providing more books in the public sector so that our parents can have less of a burden,” she said, crediting the efforts of outgoing Minister of Education Fayval Williams.

However, the People’s National Party (PNP) criticised the JLP’s approach to the education sector, particularly the rural transportation initiative, calling it poorly executed and unsafe.

“That school bus system was a political gimmick,” said Senator Peter Bunting. “We cannot be buying new trucks to transport garbage, and we’re buying 15-year-old buses to transport our most precious cargo—our children.”

The opposition charged that the rural transport system was “unsuitable” for Jamaica’s most remote areas and alleged that it served more as a political opportunity than a practical solution.

“That was just an opportunity for somebody to eat our food. Let us be clear about that,” Bunting added.