Ministry of Education in discussion with partners to build schools

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Friday, August 09, 2013

THE Ministry of Education is currently in discussion with several local and international partners regarding investment opportunities, which can be created within the education sector.This was disclosed by portfolio minister Ronald Thwaites at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Downtown Kingston, held at the Hotel Four Seasons in Kingston, on Wednesday.“We have a number of unsolicited proposals from financial houses here and abroad, which are anxious to invest in education and we are prepared, under the aegis of the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) and in consultation with the World Bank and the Ministry of Finance, to engage in such processes, so that we can use private capital prudently…to build out the many thousands of places that are required to improve our quality,” he said.The minister further noted that with these partnerships, new schools can be constructed, while existing ones will be expanded which will ultimately lead to the elimination of the shift system in schools across the island.He pointed out that these partners were looking to invest millions within the sector, adding that partnerships with the Government will only redound to the benefit of the country.“There is one proposing to build seven schools… and there are others with different size and different emphasis. We are meeting with the Ministry of Finance, the DBJ and (other) representatives to discuss how it can be done,” he said, adding that the proposals have been put forward for several months now.In the meantime, the education minister used the opportunity to encourage members of the service club to continue investing in the sector as part of efforts to upgrade the education system.The minister said that the club has played an important role in garnering support for education, through charitable donations in terms of awarding scholarships and providing schools with needed equipment.— JISMinister of Education Ronald Thwaites (second left) shares a light moment with scholarship awardee Kia Cole (right), during the NCB Employees Co-operative Credit Union Limited’s 2013 Treasure Chest Solid Goal Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) scholarship award ceremony, held at the Hotel Four Seasons in Kingston on Wednesday. Other awardees (from left) are: Angel Baker and Jonathan Scott. Also pictured (at second right) is president of the credit union, Josephine Bennett-Darmand.

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Ministry of Education in discussion with partners to build schools

Give us 3 years - Social partners expect drop in murder rate

IN the next three years, the framers of the Social Partnership Agreement, signed at King’s House last week, are expecting to realise a reduction in the country’s murder rate, its debt-to-GDP ratio, unemployment, and the average cost of energy.

They also intend for there to be an attendant improvement of the country’s GDP growth rate and its ease of doing business ranking.In specific terms, by 2016 murders should drop from the current 38 per 100,000 to 25 per 100,000; the debt-to-GDP ratio should go from 142 per cent, where it now stands, to 105 per cent; unemployment should go from 14.2 per cent to 10 per cent, while the average cost of energy should move from US$0.42/kwh to US$0.30/kwh.By then, too, real GDP growth rate should be between two and three per cent and the country should rank 75th of 185 on the World Bank’s Doing Business list. GDP is currently at 0.3 per cent, while Jamaica is 90th on the ease of doing business scale.The agreement, titled Partnership for Jamaica, was inked by Government, trade unions, the private sector, and civil society. The Opposition, while having representation on the partnership council, declined to sign the document.Members of the council acknowledge that these are ambitious targets, but argue that once there is buy-in from the wider Jamaica they are attainable.“I believe this is an ambitious agenda, but we believe that the circumstances are as good as they have ever been for us to join together as a country and we feel that we need ambitious targets,” Professor Alvin Wint told the Jamaica Observer yesterday at the newspaper’s Monday Exchange.Wint, an academia representative on the National Partnership Council, added that though the goals seem lofty, there is indication already that they are achievable.“The [targeted] reduction is not inconsistent with what we’ve seen,” he said, making reference to a one-third decline in the country’s murder rate over the last three years.Also on the subject of the murder rate, Wint used the example of Mauritius, located off Africa’s southeast coast, where he said the incidence was two per 100,000 population.“It’s an extreme example, I will admit… but that gives you a sense of why we can’t have a target to reduce ours from 38 to 36,” he said.“We’re very clear in our minds what needs to be done, but we also recognise that there is tremendous execution risk, tremendous implementation risk and this is one of the reasons why we want to address the country at large to get assistance. These are areas where we need a national focus in order to be successful,” Wint added.Wint, a professor at the University of the West Indies, was joined at the Observer’s discussion table by colleague Professor Neville Ying, president of the Jamaica Civil Service Association and a union representative on the partnership council Oneil Grant, and civil society and youth representative Kemesha Kelly.They shared Wint’s enthusiasm that the goals were within reach.“Some of the targets are very hard, but these are things we have worked through and we are not just putting things out there,” said Grant.The council is, however, not misled into thinking that achieving the targets solves the country’s problems as, “even if we achieve some of these targets, we’re still way off from where we should be”.A series of national consultations on the partnership, which has been in train for some 20 years, should begin in the next two months, the group said. Youth and civil society representative on the National Partnership Council Kemesha Kelly (right) talks about the importance of youth input to the success of the Jamaica Partnership Agreement. Kelly and fellow council representatives professors Neville Ying (second right) and Alvin Wint (third right), as well as Jamaica Civil Service Association President Oneil Grant were guests of the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange. (PHOTO: NAPHTALI JUNIOR)

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Give us 3 years - Social partners expect drop in murder rate