By Andrew Clunis

The Primary Exit Profile exam has come and gone for another year. Many students are celebrating the fact that they got placed in their schools of choice while others are hanging their heads in disappointment that they did get to go where they wanted.

It is a woeful tale for a parent because in Jamaica’s education system apartheid is rampant. Going to a good high school often determines a person’s future.

In Jamaica there are good schools and then the others. The good ones are those that are termed as traditional high schools. Then you have the converted secondary schools that have a pall of gloom hanging over them.

It is time to end this wickedness of separation. All children deserve the same opportunity at an education. The converted secondary schools are not as well-resourced as the traditional high schools. That means they are not able to execute as many programmes as the traditional high schools.

The traditional high schools most often have past students’ associations that are very active and play a great supporting role. The others have to rely on the government to fund their every need.

There are initiatives led by the Ministry of Education aimed at improving literacy and numeracy in inner city schools. But are they far-reaching enough?

We are still producing students who after five years of schooling are still unable to read and write. They grow up to be misfits in society and therein lies the root of most of our social problems. The conveyor belt is being fed too readily in some of these communities. Gang leaders have ready recruitment fields and there is no end of young men who are ready to sign up.

In the 2025/26 fiscal year, Jamaica's education sector received a significant allocation, with $178 billion allocated to the sector. A portion of the education budget, $1.7 billion, is specifically earmarked for the Primary and Secondary Schools Infrastructure Programme. 

But while we recognise the need for improved infrastructure the government must do more in terms of teaching and learning. Better compensation is needed for teachers so that we can stem the mass exodus of our best and brightest educators. A teacher who opts to work overseas makes three or four times what they make in Jamaica. Kudos to those who choose to remain and ply their craft here.

Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon is doing a fair job with the education portfolio having assumed the role from Fayval Williams. But if she is to leave her mark she will have to work steadily at improving overall attainment. One certain way this can be achieved is by tackling the apartheid that exists in the system.

How long must this lack of hope continue? We are failing so many children and creating generations of socially maladjusted people. If we want a society that’s productive and prosperous we must arrest the problem and we by investing more in our greatest asset our human capital.