JLP’s Morgan slams PNP proposed school day extension plan
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Government Senator Marlon Morgan has launched a sharp critique of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) following recent comments by its spokesman on education, Senator Damion Crawford, who proposed a two-hour extension to the national school day.
According to Senator Morgan, the idea is “ill-advised and poorly thought-out” and fails to reflect the realities facing students, teachers, and families.
“Both teachers and students alike would be at risk of undue stress and burnout if the school day were to be extended by two hours,” Morgan said.
“Teachers don’t just teach. They prepare lesson plans and manage family responsibilities after already long, demanding days. Similarly, students must attend to homework and extracurriculars. Trying to force more into the formal school day could be counterproductive, based on the law of diminishing marginal returns,” he added.
Morgan dismissed the PNP’s education proposal as an attempt to win public favor without credible policy backing.
“What is quite evident at this point is that a politically struggling, desperate, and uninspiring PNP is doing everything in its power to garner attention,” he argued. “Like several other PNP policy proposals, the school day extension is neither well-thought-out, coherent, cogent, practical nor credible.”
He accused the Opposition of engaging in “reckless political opportunism”, citing not only the school day proposal but what he labeled as “false and misleading” criticisms of the Jamaica Teaching Council Bill.
“The PNP is just making up things as they go along including their false and misleading criticism of the Jamaica Teaching Council Bill, and are recklessly throwing a raft of proposals into their confusing and toxic pot of policy prescriptions, in an effort to see what sticks and attracts political support. The Opposition PNP is merely being opportunistic and politically expedient in their proposals for education, rather than being sober, coherent and practical,” Morgan said.
In contrasting the Opposition’s approach to the Government’s, Senator Morgan pointed to the education reforms already underway under the Andrew Holness-led administration.
He cited the 2022 Patterson Report, commissioned by Prime Minister Holness following a review of the post-2004 Education System Transformation, as a cornerstone of the Government’s approach. The report produced 365 recommendations, some of which are either already implemented or in various stages of execution under the direction of the Education Transformation Oversight Committee.
READ: Crawford clarifies remarks on extended school day proposal
