Date: April 22, 2022

The Jamaica government says nearly 88,000 Jamaican children have been re-engaged through the Ministry of Education and Youth Yard-to-Yard, Find the Child initiative after more than 100,000 were not showing up online or using any of the other modalities provided for their education during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Education and Youth Minister, Fayval Williams, speaking during the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, said during the pandemic, approximately 120,000 primary and high-school students were not participating in activities regarding their education.

She said prior to returning students to full face-to-face classes, the Ministry launched the Yard-to-Yard, Find the Child Initiative, which engaged 108 social workers and 580 Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) students at a cost of J$103 million (One Jamaica dollar=US$0.008 cents) for a three-month period.

In addition, the minister praised the efforts of 928 guidance counselors and 177 deans of discipline as well as principals, teachers, administrators, and ordinary Jamaicans who joined the effort and reached out to parents and community members to re-engage Jamaican children in the face-to-face setting.

“Using a weekly average of 32,554 unaccounted-for-students over the period February 14 to April 1, 2022, shows that we have been able to re-engage approximately 87,446 of the 120,000 students we had indicated were not accounted for during the pandemic,” Williams said.

“We commit to finding all our students. our deans of discipline and our guidance officers will specifically redouble their efforts. We also call on all Jamaicans.

“You know these children in your communities that are not attending school. Call us at 211. Our internal officers will visit homes to understand the issues why the children are not in school,” she added.

The education minister said together with the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), as well as other government ministries “we commit to doing all we can to help the situations in the homes and get all our students in schools and learning again.”

Williams said parents are required to ensure that their children are in school, and failure to do so is tantamount to educational neglect.

“Too many children are absent from school on a daily basis. Jamaica’s absentee rate is above the world’s average. In 2022/23, we will work to reduce absenteeism by at least a half of the current rate,” Williams said.

Williams said the number of schools connected to the Government’s Internet broadband network will increase soon, and that 30 institutions have already been linked, with another 381 schools set to be onboarded via a third-party contractor.

She said a further 362 schools will get Wi-Fi local area network installed and upgraded.

“Our goal is to have adequate connectivity in all our schools… [because] the utilization of technology in education is paramount,” Williams said.

Source: Thousands of Jamaican children who fell through the cracks during COVID-19 back in school