Jamaica has long had two *parallel education systems, differing in quality of content and producing graduates with different potentials for *social and educational mobility.
One track takes young people through government primary and secondary schools, terminating in low achievement; the other takes the more privileged through private preparatory and traditional high (grammar) schools, with easy transition to tertiary education and the professions. It is this almost apartheid system (sustained by both elitist political parties) that has been correctly blamed for Jamaica’s chronically high income and wealth inequality, and for being one of the most powerful inhibitors of national sustainable economic development.
It is quite clear that successive Jamaican governments are unable (or unwilling) to deliver quality education to the majority demographic. They can build school buildings (hardware), but they lack the philosophy and the ethos (the software) to produce high achievement. According to ‘Educate Jamaica’, of the 30 top-ranked high schools in Jamaica (according to exam performance), only three are government Schools; the rest are owned and operated by churches and trusts.
If the government is able to operate top quality schools, but are not doing so, then they must explain why not
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/c...lity-education
One track takes young people through government primary and secondary schools, terminating in low achievement; the other takes the more privileged through private preparatory and traditional high (grammar) schools, with easy transition to tertiary education and the professions. It is this almost apartheid system (sustained by both elitist political parties) that has been correctly blamed for Jamaica’s chronically high income and wealth inequality, and for being one of the most powerful inhibitors of national sustainable economic development.
It is quite clear that successive Jamaican governments are unable (or unwilling) to deliver quality education to the majority demographic. They can build school buildings (hardware), but they lack the philosophy and the ethos (the software) to produce high achievement. According to ‘Educate Jamaica’, of the 30 top-ranked high schools in Jamaica (according to exam performance), only three are government Schools; the rest are owned and operated by churches and trusts.
If the government is able to operate top quality schools, but are not doing so, then they must explain why not
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/c...lity-education