MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Member of Parliament for Manchester Central Rhoda Crawford believes her prioritisation of opportunities for her constituents will ensure that “no one is left behind.”

Her utterances came as she announced a $10-million allocation for education in the constituency.

“Most people would be fully aware by now that the provision for access to education and training is one of my priority areas of focus, it is very dear to my heart for two reasons; I am a trained educator/teacher of English language and English literature and it is my access to education and training that is largely responsible for where I am today,” she said in an interview with the Jamaica Observer on Friday.

The educator and politician told the Sunday Observer that resources have been doubled to cushion the financial hardship faced by constituents in purchasing educational material and tuition.

“I am very excited and pleased to be injecting $10 million into my back-to-school assistance programme. This is a record investment. In my first year as MP, I would have spent $5 million. Last year I would have spent $8 million and this year I am spending $10 million. The funding is coming from CDF [Constituency Development Fund] with $5 million, $3 million from the special allocation announcement by the finance minister and $2 million from the business community,” said the first-term MP.

Crawford said funds have also been allocated to undertake projects at three schools — Old England Primary, Mandeville Primary and Porus High.

The MP, who successfully campaigned to defeat the now Opposition Senator Peter Bunting in the September 2020 election, has used her experience as a former director at HEART/NSTA Trust to mobilise training in communities including remote areas.

“One of my major campaign focuses would have been access to education and training and I have been delivering well on that. To date, I would have spent more than $20 million responding to the various educational needs in the form of tuition grants, book grants, trucking water to schools responding to the needs of schools,” she said.

“I have also been making use of various offerings through HEART/NSTA Trust. I would invite the mobile unit to several communities to recruit and to train right across the constituency. Also, through partnership with HEART/NSTA Trust, it is seen to it that [constituents] get on the spot assessment, because from when I was at HEART/ NSTA Trust as a director what I knew is that a lot of Jamaicans have the skills, but they don’t have a certificate to show. We figured why not put a programme where we could do assessment on the spot — practical and theory — and certify them rather than having them get into the classroom for six months to a year,” added Crawford.

Manchester Central constituents are set to benefit from three scheduled events spearheaded by Crawford.

“The programme is called the Rhoda Moy Crawford Access to Education and Training Back-to-school Fest 2023. There are different areas of focus, it spans over a couple of days. The first will be a community drive through treat on August 20 that will see myself and my team members moving across the communities and having a good day with the children.

“Children always love pastries. We will play some games and distribute back-to-school items,” she said.

“I did it last year in several communities across the constituency and it was very successful, so I am repeating that this year and one of the reasons for doing the community drive through treat as opposed to doing one big family fun day, is that the constituency is very large. There are four divisions — Bellefield, Royal Flat, Mandeville and Knockpatrick —and when you identify one area it eliminates those from other communities. I don’t want people, especially in the remote communities to feel left behind,” she added.

A medical and dental clinic is set for August 23, book grant distribution on August 28 and a tuition grant distribution and lyme on August 30.