The Government made good progress in the transformation of the education sector in keeping with the recommendations in the 2022 Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC) report.
• $4.6 billion in funding was committed by Cabinet for the transformation effort.
• Significant steps were made in finalising the Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC) Bill, which seeks to establish a governing body for the teaching profession, and a licensing and registration regime for all government-paid teachers.
• Progress made in improving the accounting system across all schools, which will improve governance and accountability with regard to financial management.
• Rollout of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) commenced, which will improve the tracking and monitoring of key performance indicators within the sector.
• The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) expansion plan was advanced and advances made in eliminating the shift system in schools.
• A campaign, dubbed Transforming Education for National Development (TREND) was launched to promote the efforts to modernise and improve the education landscape.
Curriculum Support and Development
• 43 mathematics coaches and 11 specialists were deployed to 151 schools.
• 27 intervention workshops were conducted at the primary and secondary levels under the Alternative Pathways to Secondary Edu-cation.
• 48 training sessions were held to support the Pathways’ curriculum implementation in specific academic subjects.
• 21,701 students were enrolled in the Sixth-Form Pathways Programme for the 2023/24 academic year.
• 110 schools provided with literacy support in the form of 130 coaching sessions, instructional leadership support to 418 school principals, and resource allocations to 422 schools. In total, 4,672 teachers and school leaders, along with 746 students were impacted.
• $395 million was added to the recurrent expenditure of Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) to support the institution’s expansion plans.
Technology in Education
• Microsoft 365 suite of programmes for teachers and students launched.
• 1,238 recorded lessons made available for instruction from the early childhood to tertiary levels.
• eBooks and additional resources distributed to secondary schools.
• Schools were equipped with software support in the form of the Aural, Read, Respond, Oral, Write (ARROW) programme.
• Implementation of 1962 STEM/ STEAM Pilot in partnership with 21st Century Education in 42 schools and six teacher-training institutions.
• The Education Management Information System (EMIS) was fully implemented to allow schools to manage administrative processes.
• 464 schools were provided with broadband connectivity.