Education Ministry Grants $62.5 Million to Reclassified Schools

A total of 19 reclassified high schools across the island have been awarded grants totalling $62.5 million under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture’s Secondary Enhancement Programme (SEP) for the 2005/06 academic year.
The cheques were handed over to the school officials on Tuesday (Nov. 22) at the Ministry’s National Heroes Circle offices in Kingston.
The institutions receiving the largest grants were the Godfrey Stewart, Claude McKay and Paul Bogle High schools, which all got $4.5 million each, while the Tivoli Gardens, Ocho Rios and Oracabessa High schools received $4 million each.
Other institutions receiving funding were Carron Hall High, which was allotted $1 million; Lister Mair Gilby got $2.5 million; while Edith Dalton James, Yallahs, Robert Lightbourne, Muschette, Anchovy, Cambridge, Newell, Lacovia, May Day, Central and Alston High schools, all received $3 million each. The schools will be using the funds to improve numeracy and literacy rates, cultural studies and information technology and science education.
In handing over the cheques, Minister of State for Education, Youth and Culture, Senator Noel Monteith, highlighted the marked improvement in the reclassified school’s Caribbean Examination Council’s (CXC) results and noted that the funds would go a far way in assisting the institutions with their development plans and projects.
“Large sums of money is being spent and these cannot be wasted. I challenge you to make good use of the funds and I appeal to all to accept the challenge and move forward,” Senator Monteith urged.
The SEP is a project of the Education Ministry and is designed to provide development funding for reclassified high schools, including the training of principals and school coordinators.
Approximately 60 schools have received SEP grants totalling $150.7 million between 2001 to 2004. No allocations were made in the 2004/05 academic year. The schools development plans will be closely monitored by the Ministry’s Programme Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E) Unit.