KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) —  The Government is looking at implementing legislation to make it illegal for children to be barred or denied access to education, particularly at the secondary level.

This was disclosed by Prime Minister Andrew Holness, during today’s (July 26) sitting of the House of Representatives.

Holness said that access to education is not defined as a right in the Charter of Rights, but noted that the Education Regulations and Child Care Protection Act place an obligation on the State to provide access to educational opportunities.

“As a matter of policy and law, therefore, Jamaican children are entitled to freely access public education up to age 18 and should be attached to an institution up to that age. If this then is the law, policy and social consensus, then no Jamaican child seeking to access publicly provided education should in any way be discriminated against, barred from or denied access to education,” he argued.

The Prime Minister said he has directed the Minister of Education, Youth and Information to examine the existing legislation with a view to make it illegal for any child to be denied a right to secondary education.

He said the Government has kept its commitment to the removal of auxiliary fees, and has increased funding to high schools from $2.6 billion to $5.3 billion.   

“In keeping with these commitments, the first disbursement of monies has been deposited to all secondary schools’ accounts since the second week of June for the process of preparing for the upcoming academic year, a first in the history of Jamaica’s education system,” he said.

He noted that the disbursement of funds represents an increase from the previous $11,500 to a maximum of $19,000 per student and, as such, will provide additional support to the institutions.