Cabinet Approves $4.6 Billion to Support Education Transformation

Cabinet has approved some $4.6 billion (US$30 million) to support key areas of the transformation and modernisation of the education sector.

Minister of Education and Youth, Hon. Fayval Williams, who provided details during Wednesday’s (September 27) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, noted that the areas of focus include strengthening of school governance arrangements; infrastructure development for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the Visual and Performing Arts at the secondary level; Information and Communications Technology (ICT) support; and quality of early-childhood and tertiary education.

“The Jamaica Education Transformation Commission or the Orlando Patterson-led report, calls on us to significantly increase government’s expenditure on school maintenance and capital projects and to ensure access to quality broadband for education for all schools,” the Minister noted.

The areas for which continued improvements are needed to achieve full transformation and modernisation of the education sector are defined by Vision 2030 Jamaica – National Development Plan.