SCHOOL RIGHTS CHALLENGE

Arguing that Jamaica’s education system was gradually collapsing, Opposition Spokesman on Education Damion Crawford on Tuesday announced that he has taken the Government to court to defend the constitutional rights of children at the pre-primary and primary levels.

In a claim filed naming the attorney general, the prime minister, and the minister of education as defendants, Crawford said he has asked the court for a declaration that the constitutional rights of Jamaica’s children to publicly funded tuition in a public educational institution at the pre-primary and primary levels have been infringed.

“The Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms guarantees every child the right to publicly funded tuition at the pre-primary and primary levels. This is not aspirational. It is binding,” Crawford insisted during his contribution to the Sectoral Debate.

Contending that a right that exists in law but not in practice was a right denied, Crawford reasoned that where access depends on ability to pay, where institutions operate below required standards, and where outcomes reflect widespread developmental failure, it could not be argued that this right was being fulfilled.

The opposition spokesman said his decision to seek redress from the court was prompted by a reported comment by the education minister during the last Standing Finance Committee deliberations, where she allegedly said the constitutional right to access at the pre-primary and primary levels was being implemented.

Highlighting what he termed “a system failure”, Crawford said underfunding at this level of the education sector was a breach of the constitutional right of Jamaicans.

“Limited state provision of only 15 per cent of the institution is a breach of the constitutional right. Non-compulsory attendance of 30 per cent to 90 per cent being absent is a breach of the constitutional right, and to that extent, on the 7th of April 2026, I filed a constitutional challenge on behalf of the people of Jamaica,” he said.

CONSISTENT PATTERN OF BREAKDOWN IN THE SYSTEM

Turning his attention to the education sector in general, Crawford said there was a consistent pattern of breakdown across every level of the system.

At the tertiary level, Crawford said only 19 per cent of individuals aged 19 to 24 were enrolled in tertiary education, indicating that more than 219,000 were not. He said in functioning education systems, this figure ranges between 40 and 50 per cent. The comparative figures for Barbados and Trinidad are 65 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively, he said.

Additionally, Crawford said only 16 per cent of the labour force holds a university degree, and youth inactivity continues to rise, with more than 124,000 young Jamaicans not engaged in education, employment, or training.

He said the number of persons with no qualifications has grown significantly, increasing from approximately 727,000 in 2020 to 887,000 in 2025.

“This represents a structural weakening of the economy, where participation is increasing, but capability is not,” he said.

The opposition spokesman noted that these figures did not include the more than 700,000 Jamaicans who have withdrawn from the labour force entirely.

Where technical and vocational education should act as a corrective mechanism, Crawford said this has also failed, adding that of the more than 137,000 trainees enrolled at HEART/NSTA Trust in 2024-2025, only about 53,969 were certified, a success rate of approximately 39 per cent. He said this was well below global benchmarks and even lower than the 45 per cent average highlighted in an Auditor General’s Department report tabled in 2020.

Crawford said that at the time of the audit, the targeted certification rate was between 70 and 80 per cent. However, he said following findings of underperformance, rather than improving outcomes, the institution reclassified the original targets as “stretch goals” and lowered expectations to 45 to 50 per cent.

“Even this revised and unambitious target was not met,” he observed.

At the secondary level, the opposition spokesman said only 19 per cent of students leave with five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate subjects, including mathematics and English. He said this meant that more than 23,000 students each year leave without the minimum acceptable standard of education.

Pointing to a pattern of underperformance and systemic failure even at the lower levels, Crawford said by the time students reach the end of primary school, deficiencies are already entrenched. At grade four, only 65 per cent achieved literacy mastery in 2025, down from 84 per cent in 2015.

By grade six, more than 10,000 students fail to achieve basic proficiency in English, and more than 12,000 fail to achieve minimum proficiency in mathematics.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com