EXTENDING the school days by two hours, widening the role of form teachers, and increasing access to the school lunch programme are some of the measures which Opposition spokesman on education Damion Crawford says the People’s National Party (PNP) will introduce if it is elected to form the next Government.

Addressing journalists during an education policy briefing on Thursday, Crawford charged that Jamaica’s education sector is in crisis and that the present Government is not instituting the necessary measures to fix it.

“Some of the facts that indicate that education is in crisis are that there has been a significant decline in grade four literary mastery over the past decade. In 2015, 86.5 per cent of students achieved mastery in literacy at the grade four level. In 2024, only 65.1 per cent — a drop of more than 21 percentage points, or a 36 per cent decrease,” said Crawford.

He charged that the recent results for the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) are also worrying, while there has been a decline in the number of students who passed five subjects — including maths and English — at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) level over the past 10 years.

Crawford noted that in 2015, 28 per cent of students passed five subjects, including maths and English, at CXC while this number declined to 18 per cent in 2024.

According to Crawford, the PNP will implement policies to address the crisis in education because the party believes that “education is to transition the individual in their time of youth from dependence to independence, causing for them to be a greater contributor to the ultimate state of human existence — interdependent”.

Crawford told the media briefing that the PNP accepts that there are excellent schools in Jamaica as well as struggling schools. He said the problem is an achievement gap, which the party will move to address when it forms the Government.

“So we have identified homework as a reason for this gap, we have identified book availability as a reason for this gap, we have identified nutrition as a reason for this gap, we have identified teacher intervention as a reason for this gap, and we have indicated how we will solve these gaps.

“So there is no magic wand to say, ‘school fix’,” said Crawford as he argued that the interventions from the PNP in Government will transform the struggling schools by improving the capacity of their students to perform.

He said a PNP Administration would also look at how schools are funded using a system it has dubbed Cost Plus whereby each institution will be given a set allocation but some will receive a top-up based on their needs.

“So schools that are further behind must get greater money for intervention, must get greater money for smaller classroom sizes, must get greater money for homework weekend classes…,” added Crawford.

The PNP spokesman noted that the current Government now allocates $180 per day for just over 130,000 students under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) lunch programme. He said the PNP plans to increase the number of students to benefit under this programme to 246,000 and hike the allocation to $400 per day for each student.

In addition, Crawford said a PNP Administration will increase the caloric intake for students under the lunch programme by working with farmers to increase the quality of the lunches.

“This will call for an increase in the budget of $9 billion, and this will be a great benefit to growth in our society as we would encourage participation of farmers in particular to ensure that the dietary needs are being satisfied,” said Crawford.

On the issue of the role of form teachers Crawford said they will be paid more to introduce a monthly contact plan where they will be asked to call five parents each day to discuss the performance of their child, while every class would have a board made up of five parents who would interact with the form teacher and the other parents.

Form teachers will also be mandated to serve on a team with guidance counsellors and deans of disciplines in what he dubbed a Department of Socialisation, to address behavioural issues and other challenges facing students.

Crawford also proposed that the school day be extended by some two hours.

“Through remuneration — not for free, teachers — we will seek to extend the school day from 2:30 [pm] to 4:30 [pm] because many of our children are going home without adult supervision at 2:30,” said Crawford as he pointed out the challenges which many children face without adult supervision.

“The extended school day will have Monday and Wednesday being extended for homework classes and will have Tuesday and Thursday being extended for socialisation, clubs, and societies. Friday would be [for] reward and entertainment activities,” said Crawford.

“It is the intention of the PNP to fix education by having these interventions going forward,” added Crawford.