It is the policy of the Government of Jamaica, through the Ministry of Education, to provide textbooks and other educational materials, free of cost, to students in Primary and Secondary level schools. In keeping with this mandate, the MoE established textbook programmes at the Primary and Secondary levels. The programmes were established to assist in raising literacy levels and to help parents with the cost of their children’s education. The Primary Textbook Programme was established in 1984 to provide textbooks to students in grades 1-6 of Primary level schools. Textbooks are provided in the subject areas of: Mathematics, Social Studies and Science, and beginning September 2012, Language Arts. By 1988, under the Secondary Schools Textbook Project (SSTP) a National (Secondary) Textbook Rental Scheme (NTRS) was established, after research showed that many parents could not afford most of the textbooks they needed for their children’s education. Through this programme, students in secondary level educational institutions paid a small fee to rent textbooks each year. Prior to this, many schools operated private textbook rental schemes. The NTRS was extended to All Age Schools in 1994, based on the findings of a study that was carried out in 1993. Although the SSTP ended in 1998, the Ministry of Education continued to provide textbooks to students at the Secondary level. The rental scheme however, was discontinued in 2003, and the access (rental) fees were abolished. Since the abolition of the access fees, all books are loaned to students, free of cost, for return at the end of each academic year. The Media Services Unit of the Ministry of Education has responsibility for the management and administration of both the Primary and Secondary textbook programmes.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 11:16:48 +0000
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