What’s the value of the Jamaican Education System

With all the negative stories on the Jamaican education system who would have thought that there would be some positive news coming out of Grand Britannia. A friend of mine who is a teacher by profession sent me this story of Black teacher who says moving to Jamaica will give her daughter a better education. Such a pronouncement is never played up in the media yet we focus on “banning” Dutty Wine and Passa Passa.

Although I continue to struggle with the English language and my grammar is not perfect, I am proud to have received a “good” Jamaican education. Thousands of Jamaicans are looking to “jump ship” and immigrate to a “first” world country based on the perception that there is a better life “over the fence”. I must admit that I came looking for that American dream and I am still looking.

My kids attend some of the best public schools in New York but I am not certain that they are being “educated”. The “No Child Left Behind” policy seems to be leaving all the black kids behind. The same goes for the UK. “Teachers over here in the UK don’t take them any further, it’s all about statistics. It’s not about the individual child’s performance. As long as each secondary school meets its numbers and its targets, that’s what it’s about” says Janet Brown, ICT teacher who is immigrating to Jamaica as she talks about education for black kids in the UK.

What is the difference between a barefooted Jamaican kid going to a school with leaky roofs and hardly any textbooks and a black kid in Bronx, New York with all the amenities and resources at their disposal? I dare say “the value of being educated” in Jamaica is more appreciated. I recognize that it is hard to compare Apples with Pear but you have to call a spade a spade. The return on investment in Jamaica is far ahead of some of the first world countries. Not according to the official statistics that continues to decry the plight of the Jamaican education system.

I may be wrong and I stand corrected but I strongly believe that the Jamaican education system is worth its weight in gold.

Read more about African Caribbean pupils improving but still lag behind white, Indian and Chinese pupils

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