Press Release

High Marks for Primary Education Project

USAID and Ministry of Education celebrate achievements of Expanding Educational Horizons Project

Kingston, Jamaica | Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Minister of Education, Andrew Holness, affirmed his endorsement of the Expanding Educational Horizons Project (EEH) – a joint venture between the Ministry of Education and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). According to Minister Holness, “the EEH project has shown some of the practical steps you can take to improve performance.” On June 5 the EEH project held a graduation ceremony for project schools that achieved improved and sustained performance in literacy and numeracy over a two-year period. During his keynote address at the graduation the Minister stated, “We are looking at teaching methods, incorporating teaching development plans and standards of school operations, not just test scores … the EEH project fits neatly into the overall plan for transformation.”

At the ceremony 22 previously under-performing schools were honoured for meeting and/or exceeding the national averages in literacy and numeracy, as well as their exceptional leadership and school management practices. This is the second graduation in six months as 17 primary and all-age schools celebrated their achievements in December 2007. The remaining 32 schools are expected to graduate by the end of the project in September 2009.

Dr. Karen Hilliard, Mission Director of USAID/Jamaica, encouraged the graduating schools to sustain their academic performance and “be mentors to [their] fellow project schools.” She also expressed commendations to the Ministry of Education for its contributions to the project’s success. “I also wholeheartedly support the Ministry of Education’s efforts in keeping gender-focused initiatives as an integral part of the education transformation strategy,” added Hilliard, as she referred to the importance of diligently addressing the trend of under-performance among boys.

Private sector support was also highlighted as a key ingredient for the success of this and other interventions in the education sector. Island Networks Limited and the recently established Jamaica National Building Society’s ‘Partner Jamaica Initiative’ were just two of the private sector players that were lauded for their support to Jamaica’s educational transformation.

USAID assists developing countries to improve primary, and secondary levels of education. In addition to the EEH project USAID supports the Caribbean Center of Excellence for Teacher Training (C-CETT) project in collaboration with the Joint Board of Teacher Education at the University of the West Indies. The C-CETT project is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading and, ultimately, improving student literacy from Grades 1-3 and is being implemented in 13 English-speaking countries in the Caribbean.