The children

Primary School Years

© 2005 UNICEF Jamaica; Noorani

A young primary school student colours a picture in class in Jamaica

There are 232,380 children aged 6 to 9 years old in Jamaica

According to 2003/04 statistics, there are 792 government-operated primary schools. There are also a number of privately operated, fee paying primary level institutions (called prep schools) in the island.

Primary school education is offered free but is not compulsory. About 94 percent of primary level age children are enrolled in primary schools but the daily attendance rate is significantly lower at 80.4 percent. Reasons for non-attendance include money problems and lack of interest in school.

While primary school education is free, the quality of the education provided sometimes falls below desired standards. The teacher pupil ratio is usually higher than the Education Ministry’s average of 1:34, cited in its 2003/2004 Educational Digest. Classrooms are often overcrowded and school plants in need of maintenance and modernization. There is heavy reliance on the “talk and chalk” methodology, often because in the cramped space, there is little room for activity or use of interactive and participatory methodologies in classrooms.

Low salaries are also cited by teachers as a cause for concern, and in recent years a number of teachers have been recruited from Jamaican classrooms and have left for more lucrative teaching jobs in the United Kingdom and North America.

Socio-Economic Environment

Children are the most affected by the increasing violence in Jamaica, as it undermines their access to education, their learning abilities, and affects their psychological and social well-being.

Sometimes physical and psychological violence is inflicted on children by those entrusted with their care including parents, guardians and teachers. A 2004 survey among Jamaican parents of six year olds found that the majority (46.6 percent) used physical assault as a disciplinary method with their children. This included spanking, beating, pinching, tying of hands and shaking.

Migration of parents who seek more lucrative employment abroad has had a negative impact on Jamaican children. Some children are left in the care of strangers, neighbours or even older siblings who are still children. These so-called “barrel children” are left without parental guidance or adult supervision and with access to significant material resources in the form of cash remittances and barrels of clothing and toys sent by absentee parents.