Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

HENRY

Outgoing president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association, Hopeton Henry, yesterday described as unrealistic, a promise by the People's National Party to mandate compulsory attendance and enrolment in schools as of 2010, if it wins the August 27 general election.

Mr. Henry said it would be unrealistic unless additional space is created in the system.

He also noted that the shift system would have to be abolished and more teachers would have to be recruited if compulsory attendance and enrolment is going to be enforced.

"But we have to look at the fact that teachers are being recruited outside of Jamaica," Mr. Henry said.

The JTA president also noted that the PATH programme would have to be expanded to ensure that students have food, among other things, in order to attend school.

Developing policy

Maxine Henry-Wilson, Minister of Education and Youth, told The Gleaner yesterday that her ministry was in the process of developing a policy to enforce compulsory attendance and enrolment.

She noted that this would mean that the ministry acquires the services of truancy officers and social workers.

The education minister said research has shown that some children do not attend school because they have to run errands, among other things. She noted that interventions would be put in place to ensure that they have the necessary resources, including transportation to get to school.

"We don't want to make it punitive for parents, we want to make it corrective," Mrs. Henry-Wilson said.

It was in September 1982 that compulsory attendance was introduced in the two pilot parishes by then Minister of Education, Dr. Mavis Gilmore.

Improvements in 1980s

Giving Parliament a progress report on the programme in June, 1983, Dr. Gilmore said there had been notable improvements in attendance, in the first term, with the turnout at schools in both parishes reaching as high as 85 per cent, where before, the rate was less than 65 per cent.

She admitted that the attendance rate had fallen off during the second term, but remained above what obtained prior to the introduction of the programme.

That effort was, however, not sustained.

Also in the PNP's manifesto, is a plan to ensure that graduates from a teacher education institution leave with a university degree by 2015 - a recommendation made by the 2004 Task Force report on education. But Mr. Henry noted that he had reservations about this, noting that the tertiary institutions do not have the capacity to upgrade 17,000 teachers within this time frame.

petrina.francis@gleanerjm.com