Gov’t to build more schools, looks to Church for support

JAMAICA

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the Government is seeking to expand its partnership with the Church to build more schools in Jamaica.

PM Holness said the aim is to enforce a value-based education in society, after recognising a “transition” in the country’s foundational values.

“I believe the Church can play, and is playing, a very important role in fortifying the society and in ensuring that there isn’t a total collapse of the moral base of the society,” he stated via Jamaica Information Service.

“I want to use this opportunity to commend the Church, in as much as asking for the Church to see if more can be done to protect and support our Jamaican civilisation,” he added.

The Prime Minister was speaking at the 2023 Pentecost Assembly, hosted by the Archdiocese of Kingston, at the National Arena in Kingston on Sunday, May 28.

Additionally, Prime Minister Holness acknowledged that schools managed by the Church continue to perform exceptionally well.

“Our education system is not as bad as some would have it to be. We have schools that continue to produce world-leading talent,” he stressed.

It is against this background PM Holness noted that faith-based education is still valuable, “even as society becomes modernised and takes an agnostic view.”

“Being grounded in a faith-based educational programme is still powerful and valuable in today’s world,” the Prime Minister said.