Controversy Over Funds for All-Age Schools in Rural Jamaica

Students from the Content Gap All-Age School standing at attention for the singing of Jamaica's National Athem. -Photo By Diana Hall

All-Age schools are public institutions that enrolls students from grade one to grade nine. In rural Jamaica, most of these schools say they receive limited assistance from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture.
A Video of Students in Rural Jamaica

However, Projects such as the Jamaica All-Age Schools Project (JAASP), are carried out to assess and improve the delivery of education in the rural areas of Jamaica. The JAASP was conducted between 2000 and 2003, and worked in partnership with the Ministry of Education.
JAASP's Homepage

The ministry says the direct beneficiaries of the project were the children and communities in the most disadvantaged, rural remote areas of Jamaica. The project was specifically aimed to tackle the key issues of “access, quality, retention and equity” in relation to rural education.
Jamaica's Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture's Homepage

Additionally, the Ministry of Education say they supply these schools with grants three times per year, to aid in the payment of utility and maintains bill.


Teachers from the Content Gap All-Age School. From left: Mrs. Melony Walker-Murray(Teacher),Pauline Yates(teacher), Mrs. Lillian Madden(principal) and Mrs.Vonnie Powell-Campbell(Teacher). -Photo By Diana Hall

But the staff at one of the all-age schools in rural Jamaica, say their main source of assistance is from non-government organisations (ngo's), such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund. Vonnie Powell-Campbell, Vice Principal of the Content Gap All-Age School in rural St. Andrew, Jamaica, says she witnessed some of the USAID's development projects. “The USAID assisted in repairing our roof after Hurricane Ivan,” she says.
CHASE Fund's Homepage
USAID's Homepage