THE EDITOR, Sir:
I REFER to your article headlined, Education Ministry struggles to survive (The Daily Gleaner of Wednesday, February 8: section B12) and question the veracity and relevance of your headline to the story which followed.
The headline did not in any way illustrate or even capture the gravamen of the story. Indeed, the story gave no indication of the ministry struggling to survive.
The information given by the Hon Minister of Education, Youth and Culture was in response to a specific question posed by Opposition Spokesman on Education, Andrew Holness in Parliament.
EDUCATION FUNDS
When Prime Minister P J Patterson announced his intention to make $5b available from the National Housing Trust (NHT) to facilitate capital works programmatic and curricular interventions as part of the transformation of the education process, it was never intended for all the funds to be drawn down at one time, but for it to be disbursed when it was needed by the Education Ministry. There is a special funding mechanism including a special account that allows funds to be allocated on request. Hence to the end of December 2005, a total of $406.20 m was expended.
Moreover, the Education Ministry's budget for its continued day-to-day operations including programmes started prior to the transformation is separate from the $5b allotted for purposes of transformation in the education system.
The number of spaces required for standardising both the primary and secondary levels of education and moving effectively towards universal secondary education is indeed high, but not 'irrationally high.' The figure of 430, 000 is based on the new parameters stipulated by the National Task Force on Education Reform and is projected to 2015.
SPACE AUDIT
The comprehensive space audit report submitted to the Minister of Education, Youth and Culture considered several factors in determining the number of spaces necessary.
The proposed reduction in class sizes is a critical factor:
Because of the reduction in class size, the number of spaces required to satisfy the same population would increase in all three types of school. For example, in the case of secondary schools, the available spaces would have declined by 45 per cent. That is, the available spaces would have moved from 186,750 down to 103,750. For the primary system, the available space based on the new class size would have moved from 285,280 down to 162,558 or declined by 57 per cent. Overall 205,000 additional spaces would be required to meet the space needs of the same number of students
Another 104,000 spaces have been added because the Task Force stipulation is that schooling should move from 11 to 13 years. (An additional year is added to the front end of the primary system and an additional year - Grade 12 - is added to the top-end of the secondary system. This is separate from lower and upper sixth forms now being considered as post secondary)
The abolition of the shift system which now accounts for 66,000 spaces which are being used twice per day by the students in shift schools would now see twice the number of spaces necessary.
The remaining 54,000 spaces would be accounted for by the normal overcrowding in schools, despite the existence of the shift system.
SPACE NEEDED BY 2015
The following summarises the actual number of spaces needed by 2015.
1. 205,000: Decline in the available spaces due to new parameters
2. 105,000: Addition of 5-year olds and Grade 12
3. 66,000: Elimination of the shift system
4. 54,000: Overcrowding despite shift system (derived figure) 5.430,000 Total number of spaces required within the context of the new parameters
I am, etc.,
Dorrett R Campbell
Director of communications
Ministry of Education
