Dear Editor,
Jamaican politicians seem not to look beneath the surface, but instead look for easy and sometimes troubling band-aid solutions.
Senator Ruel Reid's recent utterings ruffled some feathers, and though my partisan mind would like to find some argument in support of his assertions, I was simply unable to come up with such argument.
Instead, it inspired me to take a closer look at the Governments social safety net, Programme for Advancement Through Health and education (PATH).
A veritable conditional cash transfer programme, PATH could be organised more efficiently to allow the Government to get more bang for its buck.
One dimension of the programme is to help reduce intergenerational poverty through education. As such, the programme aims to increase school attendance by giving financially weak parents some additional funds to help them out in this regard.
Though well-intentioned, it seems to be an exact replica of Brazil's Bolsa Familia. I have to conclude that it seems adequate research was not conducted in Jamaica as it relates to the tailoring of such a programme to the Jamaican context.
For one, it presupposes that a child's attendance to school, or rather a lack thereof, is the main barrier for poor children reaping the benefits of education, ie moving up the socio-economic ladder. Let's for this purpose say that this were to be the case. Then, the programme lacks coordination between related ministries and other stakeholders in the process for early childhood education to attaining employability. Issues to be handled include placement of student in schools closest to their homes to avoid exorbitant transportation fees; fixing the quality of education dispensed; having the various ministries collaborating in the effort; etc.
Separate and apart from the fact that many think the benefit is not meaningful, if the PATH and the support organisations are properly reorganised, parents could allocate more money to providing healthy lunches, extra lessons, or other amenities vital to the success of children and thus the success of the programme.
Denieca Brown
denieca.brown@mail.utoronto.ca
PATH needs a clearer pathway
-->
Jamaican politicians seem not to look beneath the surface, but instead look for easy and sometimes troubling band-aid solutions.
Senator Ruel Reid's recent utterings ruffled some feathers, and though my partisan mind would like to find some argument in support of his assertions, I was simply unable to come up with such argument.
Instead, it inspired me to take a closer look at the Governments social safety net, Programme for Advancement Through Health and education (PATH).
A veritable conditional cash transfer programme, PATH could be organised more efficiently to allow the Government to get more bang for its buck.
One dimension of the programme is to help reduce intergenerational poverty through education. As such, the programme aims to increase school attendance by giving financially weak parents some additional funds to help them out in this regard.
Though well-intentioned, it seems to be an exact replica of Brazil's Bolsa Familia. I have to conclude that it seems adequate research was not conducted in Jamaica as it relates to the tailoring of such a programme to the Jamaican context.
For one, it presupposes that a child's attendance to school, or rather a lack thereof, is the main barrier for poor children reaping the benefits of education, ie moving up the socio-economic ladder. Let's for this purpose say that this were to be the case. Then, the programme lacks coordination between related ministries and other stakeholders in the process for early childhood education to attaining employability. Issues to be handled include placement of student in schools closest to their homes to avoid exorbitant transportation fees; fixing the quality of education dispensed; having the various ministries collaborating in the effort; etc.
Separate and apart from the fact that many think the benefit is not meaningful, if the PATH and the support organisations are properly reorganised, parents could allocate more money to providing healthy lunches, extra lessons, or other amenities vital to the success of children and thus the success of the programme.
Denieca Brown
denieca.brown@mail.utoronto.ca
PATH needs a clearer pathway
-->