“Supporting Under-resourced Children and Young People with their Education in Jamaica.”
When I first looked at the theme, “Supporting Under-resourced Children and Young People with their education in Jamaica, I am reminded of the extraordinary work JET UK has done over the last six years. JET UK has brought STEM and advanced training tools and curriculum. for example Creative Futures. to multiple Jamaican schools including: Bartons. Padmore, Duhaney Park, St. Richard’s, Calabar, Brown Hall, Ensom City, Good Hope, Balaclava, Newcombe Valley and Pedro Plains Primary Schools. They have successfully delivered this classroom of the future content to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers.
CONGRATULATIONS TO JET UK. WELL DONE!
I am also inclined to look directly at other interventions that exist that can impact the children? Over the years I’ve observed as nonprofit organizations & individuals year after year bringing valuable supplies, books, bags, uniforms etc. Without these donations, many parents would find it more challenging to send their children to school.
Do you know, there are over 400 charities from the Diaspora that provide help and support for children. These charities do wonders for our children and they fit directly into tonight’s theme “Supporting Under-resourced Children and Young People with their education in Jamaica.” Because Every child can learn; Every child must learn
But how do children learn?
I’d like you to shift focus for a minute. For, those 400 charities that do work in Jamaica, let’s assume that all of them directly impact children. There are also approximately 650k students enrolled in Jamaican schools and 24000 teachers. The teacher to student ratio is 28:1 and the ratio of organization to students 1650:1. How do we fill the gap?
How does the Diaspora maximize it’s impact and support as much of the 650k students as possible? The work of JET UK and the Jamaica Education Task Force take a different tact, we focus on training and professional development for teachers.
JET UK and the Task Force I chair, JDET are a new mechanism for the Diaspora established in 2013. And it has became a model engagement mechanism, an easy plug and play, low barrier to entry option for the Diaspora to engage in national development. By prioritizing professional development for teachers our work to empower teachers with the tools to build capacity creates a multiple effect with Jamaican students.
A key to the work we do are strategic partnerships with the public sector, the private sector, Civil Servants and NGOS. We have collaborated since inception with the Ministry of Education, the Jamaican Teachers Association, the National Education Trust, and others. We also conduct needs assessment on a regular basis. We sit every two years with as many stakeholders as we can from students, parents, teachers and administrators of education , and our only goal is to understand what the current gaps are so we can development intervention to fill those gaps.
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