$14 Billion To Remove Schools From Shift System

Minister without Portfolio with responsibility for Education, Youth and Information, Hon. Karl Samuda says it will cost the government $14 billion to remove schools from the shift system.

He made the disclosure at the Ministry’s Annual Staff Recognition and Awards Ceremony held on Friday (November 29) at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

“We have some 30 odd schools that are on shift that have to be removed…and there’s a particular list of schools that have been identified to be removed from shift this year,” Minister Samuda stated.

“We’re going to review that list to see in what way we can accelerate the pace by being less elaborate with our structures [for the schools], because in the final analysis, our objective is to put children in front of a teacher who will teach them and will improve their educational capacity,” he added.

In September, it was announced that four schools will be removed from the shift system in the 2019/20 fiscal year at a cost of $93.9 million.

They are: Exchange All-Age School in St. Ann, which will be upgraded at a cost of $21.9 million; Albert Town High School, Trelawny, $30 million; Cedric Titus High School, Trelawny, $12 million; and Port Antonio High, Portland, $30 million.