CLARENDON, Jamaica – Opposition Spokesman on Education, Senator Damion Crawford says the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) should be booted from government because of what he says is the Andrew Holness administration’s mismanagement of the education sector.

“We have a system in place that the JLP has moved literacy in four grade from 84 per cent in 2015 to 65 per cent in 2024,” Crawford said. “The JLP has made more children incapable to read in their nine years … they deserve to lose for that.”

He was speaking during a People’s National Party (PNP) bus tour stop in Lionel Town, Clarendon.

“When we go to five subjects with Maths and English… in 2015, that was 28 per cent. The JLP move it down in 2024 to 18 per cent,” Crawford continued. “They make less children leaving school with the subjects they need to survive.”

Crawford also chided the government for what he said was the poor treatment of teachers.

“The JLP should lose because of how they treat the teachers. Don’t forget that they removed the special one per cent NHT from the teachers and said they no longer offer it with no reason given,” he said. “Don’t forget that they gave themselves 300 per cent [increase in salary] and give the teachers 20 per cent. Don’t forget they removed all the things that never pay tax and tax it for the teachers.”

Noting that, “Too many children with 11 subjects are working in wholesales,” Crawford said the PNP has committed to full scholarships for the first child in any family to get into university.

“They can become the change for that family,” Crawford said.

He added: “Why the PNP should win is because we are committed to making sure that by grade one every child can read … there is no place for the uneducated in the future.”