Opposition Leader Mark Golding says his administration will make student loans more borrower-friendly for Jamaicans pursuing tertiary education.

“We believe that education must not be a burden of debt but a bridge to a better future. We will make student loans more borrower-friendly. Graduates will only begin to repay their student loans once they are employed and their monthly payments will capped at an affordable percentage of their monthly income,” Golding said.

“If there are times when they are between jobs or they are out of work, payments on their students’ loans will be deferred and tact onto the back-end of the loan period without penalties,” Golding said, arguing that this will remove fear and reluctance among young people to borrow and invest in their education.

Additionally, Golding has promised to implement a student loan forgiveness programme for teachers based on their years of service in the education system.

“What we have in mind is that one year of payments on their student loan will be forgiven for every year that they remain employed in the public education system,” he said.

The opposition leader has also promised to invest in vocational education commencing at the secondary level.

“Every secondary school must offer a cluster of vocational offerings and will be equipped with state-of-the-art vocational labs providing hands-on training in critical skills during the day for the students and will be open to adults in the evenings promoting life-long learning and skills development,” Golding said.

“We also need to incentivise businesses to invest in training, and we have a plan. We propose that HEART matches dollar-for-dollar the amount that businesses spend on training. This will incentivise and expand business training programmes even beyond current employees of the business. We see a dynamic partnership between the state and the private sector to transform national productivity rapidly, developing our capacity to absorb new investments that create well-paying, high-value jobs for our people,” he added.

Golding was speaking at the 86th staging of the PNP annual conference at the National Arena in Kingston on Sunday, September 15.

This annual conference is the PNP’s last major event before the 2025 general election, marking a crucial moment for the party to consolidate its position and rally its members.