| Early Childhood Education
Early childhood
education is concerned with the development of children up to age
five. The institutions involved are day care centres, basic and
infant schools and infant departments in primary and all-age schools.
A community-based sponsoring body manages basic schools, and the
Government’s contribution is in the form of a subsidy –
salary, nutrition and class material.
Primary Education
Primary
education is offered to children in grades one to six of primary
and all-age schools. The educational offering at the primary level
lays the foundation for the acquisition of knowledge, skills and
values for total development and continuing education. It is expected
that each student within this age group should be equipped with
the following characteristic by the end of grade six:
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Literacy
and numeracy by global standards |
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Competence in pre-requisite knowledge and skills to access secondary
education. |
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Possession of a caring attitude towards self, others and things. |
There
are 346 primary, 356 all-age and 90 primary and junior high schools
providing for approximately 302,057 students.
Secondary Education
The
secondary education programme is concerned with educating students
from grades seven to 13 in high and comprehensive schools. This
level of education is also offered in grades seven to nine of all-age
schools and junior high schools. This is regarded as the first cycle
of secondary education.
Secondary
education is aimed at producing graduates with adequate training
to qualify them to admission to tertiary institutions or for gainful
employment. The focus of the programme is to improve the quality,
efficiency and relevance of the curricula. The main performance
indicator at the secondary level for the quality of graduates is
the level of success in external examinations at GCE `O’ and
‘A’ levels (British), and the Caribbean Examination
Council (CXC).
There
are 59 high schools with a student enrolment of 73,506, financed
mainly by the Government of Jamaica. These schools offer mainly
academic subjects although some offer a limited number of vocational
subjects. Access to these schools is gained mainly on the basis
of performance in the National Assessment Examination.
There
are 75 comprehensive high schools. Access to these schools is gained
from neighbouring feeder schools or through the National Assessment
Examination. The curriculum is a mixture of academic and vocational
training and students sit the same external examinations as those
in traditional high schools.
Tertiary
Education
Tertiary
education is offered in the following Government-funded institutions:
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The University of the West Indies |
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The University of Technology |
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Six Teacher Training Colleges |
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Seven Multi-disciplinary colleges |
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The
College of Agriculture, Science and Education |
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Edna
Manley College of Visual and Performance Arts |
Tertiary
education provides the opportunity for the acquisition of the knowledge
and skills required for professional competence in various fields
of endeavour. Assistance to students includes the provision of scholarships,
boarding grants and tuition fees.
Multi-disciplinary
colleges provide a broad programme of continuing education to satisfy
individual, as well as the manpower, needs of the society. The colleges
now offer preliminary university and teacher training courses. The
institutions falling within this grouping are EXED, Brown’s
Town, Knox, Portmore, Montego Bay, Moneague and Bethlehem Community
Colleges.
The
University Council of Jamaica functions as an accreditation, awards
and academic development body for degree, diploma and certificate
programmes, proposed and developed at approved tertiary institutions.
The organisations aims to:
1. |
encourage foreign institutions and local counterparts to apply
for registration and subsequent accreditation of programmes |
2. |
design and establish an academic transfer system to facilitate
mobility of students between tertiary institutions |
| 3. |
determine equivalence of qualification |
4. |
maintain contacts with quality assurance bodies worldwide and
International Advisory Groups (IAG) |
Technical/Vocational Education
Technical/
Vocational education is offered to students at grades seven to eleven,
in the areas of art and craft, agriculture, business, home economics
and industrial arts.
This
area provides students with the skills, knowledge and attitude which
qualify them for job employment or entry into tertiary institutions.
In addition to the schools identified under this programme, Technical/Vocational
education is offered in some high and comprehensive high schools.
Presently,
there are 14 technical high schools, catering to 16, 219 students.
Special Education
Special
education is provided mainly through private voluntary organisations
in association with the Government of Jamaica. It embraces those
programmes designed to meet the educational needs of children, four
to 18 years old, identified as having mental, physical and intellectual
capabilities which deviate significantly, from the norm expected
of their age.
The
programme aims to provide students with exceptionalities access
to early childhood, primary, secondary and tertiary education, in
order to facilitate the development of their full potential.
Schools
for the Mentally Challenged, also known as Schools of Hope, are
run by the Jamaica Association for Persons with Mental Retardation.
These are attached to regular primary, all-age and secondary schools.
There are 29 institutions of this type with an enrolment of 924
and a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:10.
There
are 12 schools serving the hearing impaired population in Jamaica.
Of this number, three are privately operated while seven are grant-aided;
however, the Ministry of Education and Culture supervises them all.
The schools cater to children from pre-school through to the secondary
level, with a total enrolment of 1,055, and an academic staff of
95.
The
Salvation Army School for the Blind is the only school that caters
to students who are blind or visually impaired. A Deaf/Blind Unit
is also attached. The school follows the regular school curriculum
and students who are successful in the National Assessment Examination
move on to the secondary school system. The school is residential
with an enrolment of 110 students.
Provision
is also made for children with learning and other mild disabilities
in six special units attached to regular primary and all-age schools.
The schools involved are Ocho Rios Primary, Duncans All-Age, Catherine
Hall Primary, Hazard Primary, Lyssons Primary and Mico Practising
All-Age.
The
Hope Valley Experimental School offers education to normal and disabled
children and is the only institution that practices full integration.
The number of special children enrolled in this institution is 94.
The
Mico College Child Assessment and Research Centre (CARE) was established
to ensure the early detection of disabilities which affect the development
of children and prescribe corrective, instructional programmes to
address the disabilities diagnosed. The Centre also runs a special
programme for gifted and talented children.
Government
also gives assistance to the following private voluntary organisations,
which provide special education programmes:
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Alpha Boys Home Special Education Unit |
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St. John Basco Boys Home |
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3D Project Special Education Unit |
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Jamaica Association for Children with Learning Disabilities |
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Maranatha
School for the Deaf |
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Private
Voluntary Organisations Limited |
The
Jamaica Institution for Excellence in Education (JIEE) is an organisation
dedicated to the development and co-ordination of challenging educational
programmes. The implementation of these programmes should encourage
and stimulate gifted young Jamaicans to achieve their full potential
in a variety of ways.
Adult Education
Adult
education, used in this context, is regarded as non-formal education
organized outside the established school system, and is intended
to teach special skills and the development of specific attitudes
that can result in functional changes in behaviour. In Jamaica,
there are about 75 agencies and organisations implementing adult
education programmes. Many of these programmes are run by non-government
agencies and are attached to churches or to volunteer social welfare
movements.
The Jamaica Movement for the Advancement of Literacy (JAMAL) was
established in 1974 to take over the functions and activities of
the former Literacy Board. The major objective of this organization
is the eradication of illiteracy in Jamaica and the promotion of
the concept of continuing adult education by improving the adult
literacy service as well as the delivery system.
Common Services
The
common services constitute all those general activities, which support
the various areas of the education system. These relate to:
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Guidance and Counseling is concerned with the training and supervision
of counseling personnel. |
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Student Assessment is responsible for the development, administration
and analysis at the various levels in the education system. |
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Core Curriculum ensures that curricula are relevant to the subject
areas and that the levels of development of students, are kept
in constant review. |
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Media Services is responsible for the provision and production
of learning materials in a variety of media for the school system. |
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School
Personnel and Administration Services facilitates the delivery
of personnel management, and other administrative services to
schools. |
Jamaica Library Service
The
Jamaica Library Service aims to transmit knowledge and understanding
by providing and promoting access to recorded knowledge through
public school libraries. There are at present 13 parish libraries,
118 branch libraries and 461 bookmobile stops. The services provided
include:
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Lending, reference and information services. |
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Organised activities for children to stimulate and encourage
reading. |
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Lectures, exhibitions and displays. |
The
Jamaica Library Service, on behalf of the Ministry of Education
and Culture administers the School Library Service. Approximately
530,000 students and teachers in infant, primary, all-age, secondary,
technical and comprehensive schools are served. The Service operates
from a main headquarters in Kingston through five regional offices,
servicing 927 schools.
In
recognition of the importance of nutrition to education, the Government
established a School Feeding Programme that provides at least one
meal per day to students in recognised basic, infant, primary, all-age
and secondary schools. The objectives of the programme are to encourage
regular school attendance and to provide nutritional support to
the most vulnerable students attending public institutions.
The
Programme is carried out through Nutrition Products Limited (NPL)
which is responsible for the production and distribution of nutri-bun
and milk/drink to approximately 195,000 beneficiaries islandwide.
The
traditional school-feeding programme involves the preparation of
cooked lunches by the schools. Under this programme, there are 170,000
in infants, primary, all-age, junior high and comprehensive high
schools. There are 860,000 beneficiaries in recognised basic schools
who are receiving a per capita lunch subsidy, which is disbursed
through the Early Childhood Education Unit.
Agricultural Education
This
programme deals with specialist training in agricultural education
provided for in three institutions; the College of Agriculture,
Science and Education (CASE), Knockalva and Elim Agricultural schools.
The CASE provides training to the tertiary level, while Knockalva
and Elim, focus on secondary level education.
Art and Cultural Education
This
programme is concerned with education in arts and cultural subjects
provided by the Edna Manley College of Visual and Performing Arts.
The college comprises four schools namely, the School of Dance,
School of Music, School of Drama and the School of Art. This institution
promotes the knowledge of, and researches, documents and disseminates
information on Jamaican and regional visual performing art forms.
SUBJECTS
- Child Care & Protection (Day Care Centres)
- Education Policies and Programmes Management
- Libraries
- Literacy
- Regulation
of Educational Institutions:
-
Pre-Primary
- Primary
- Secondary
-
Tertiary
- Independent
Schools
- Vocational Training (including Apprenticeship and Industrial Training)
DEPARTMENTS
- College of Agriculture , Science and Education (CASE)
- Community Colleges
- Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts
- Educational Institutions
- G. C. Foster College of Physical Education
- Human Employment and Resource Training/HEART Trust/NTA
- Jamaica Library Service
- Jamaica Movement for Adult Literacy
- National Council on Education
- National Youth Service (NYS)
- Teacher Training Colleges
- University Council of Jamaica (UCJ)
- University of Technology
- University of the West Indies (UWI)
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