Education Minister Outlines Key Focus Areas

Further improvements in literacy and numeracy, advancement in special education, and skills training are focus areas for Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon.

Speaking with JIS News following her swearing in as a member of the new Cabinet on September 17, at King’s House, the Minister said the concentration will continue into the new term, with much emphasis on special needs children, and on educating “our boys”.

“Our boys are falling behind when you see all the data. It shows the girls are performing significantly better than our boys, and we have to address that. We also have to address how we deliver skills training, and the HEART/NSTA Trust will be to Level 5 free, because we want to improve the level of skills in our country,” she noted.

“We are also going to be pushing out more programmes, especially in our rural areas. We are also going to be working more closely with the private sector, because at the end of the day, that is what HEART is about. It is about delivering talent for our private sector, and we are going to have to do a better job of aligning with them,” the Minister said.

Noting that at the level of Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, “we have done pretty well in lifting back up the literacy from where it was after COVID”, she said more efforts are needed, especially to improve mathematics.

Dr. Morris Dixon argued that for Jamaica to advance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, “we are going to have to get over that fear of mathematics. It is an area that is absolutely important if we are to reach the goals that we want to reach in our country”.

The Ministry has a mission to provide quality education and training in a caring, inclusive, and enabling environment to foster socially conscious, empowered, and productive citizens and to support national development.

Key goals include increasing access to quality education for all, promoting lifelong learning, ensuring efficient resource deployment, and promoting compliance with national and international standards.