Jamaica Gleaner – The government of Jamaica has devised a plan to fully fund the educational cost for all students from birth through to their 18th birthday, over a three-year period, Minister of Education Ruel Reid has said.
“I am now trying to get us to this bold statement of ‘zero to 18 public free education’ strategy that gets all our students up to the minimum of having an associate degree that will be paid for by the State. That is the policy position that I am articulating,” Reid said.
He was addressing the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica annual conference at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort in Montego Bay, St James, yesterday.
“When I go to Cabinet on Monday (January 14), I will say to the prime minister: ‘This is going to be our contribution. This is how we are going to revolutionise Jamaica to make sure that we have every one of our young people trained and certified at least to the minimum of an associate degree, facilitated through the collaboration of the Council of Community Colleges of Jamaica’,” the minister emphasised.
Reid revealed that the State is seeking to rescue the nation’s youth who are unable to pay for their education and the fact that 50 per cent of the 1.3 million persons who are now employed in the country’s workforce do not have the required qualification and training.