ALTHOUGH IT was built in 1973 to accommodate 255 students, by 1999 the Davis Primary School in Banister, St. Catherine, had a population of twice that number.
The result was severe overcrowding with eight classes being crammed into a building originally constructed to house three.
Similar difficulties were being experienced at the Victoria Basic School in Clarendon where 80 students were being schooled in a dilapidated one-room building. In some cases, a single desk had to be shared by as many as five children with some being left to write on their laps.
A school board member, Vinora Mundle, recalled that "the school was so small that we had to turn children away and they just had to stay at home."
These uncomfortable conditions are typical of the numerous primary, basic and all-age schools where the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has made interventions. Facing the daunting challenge of delivering quality education in sub-standard conditions, Parent-Teacher Associations, school boards and other citizens' groups in various communities across the island have approached the JSIF for assistance.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
In the case of the Davis Primary School, more than $6 million was provided to rehabilitate the existing school building and construct four additional classrooms. At Victoria Basic, the JSIF spent over $3 million to complete a new school facility which the school board had started to build but needed support to finish. JSIF also financed the procurement of furniture and appliances for use at the school.
"When I was inquiring, seeking funds to help build the school, I was told by a friend about the JSIF. We started the school and had the roofing on and then JSIF came in and completed it," Mrs. Mundle said.
She added, "The project has been very good for the community because we had so many children around not going to basic school that we had to do something about it. Now there is room for the young children who were not able to go to school before."
COMMMITTED
Since its establishment in 1996, the JSIF has remained committed to its mandate to alleviate poverty by financing community development initiatives. Initial financing for the JSIF's operations was secured in the form of US$32 million in loans from the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The Government of Jamaica provided US$10 million in counterpart funding and grants valued at US$3 million and US$750,000 were received from the Gover-nment of the Netherlands and the Department for Interna-tional Development respectively. Subse-quent funding came from a US$14 million loan from the Caribbean Development Bank.
By August 2003, Joseph's board of directors had approved $2.7 billion for investment in various development and social service projects. About 30 per cent of this funding has financed education projects.
"We have provided extensive support for education because we see it as a tool which individuals can utilise to lift themselves out of poverty," explained JSIF's managing director, Scarlette Gillings.
"Our focus has been on early childhood education because the Ministry of Education has repeatedly stressed that the quality of education children receive in their earliest years is critical to their overall attitude towards learning. So we continue to finance these projects because we feel that children who are well-educated will be in a better position to provide for themselves, their family and their community in the long run," she added.
In keeping with this belief, $888 million has been approved for investment in education projects during the Fund's seven years of operation. In that same period, the JSIF's board of directors has approved 182 education projects for implementation and up to September of this year, 131 of these projects had been completed, representing a total value of $568 million. These projects have been implemented in collaboration with various community-based organisations which stand a percentage of the total project cost. The JSIF requires that benefiting communities make a contribution in cash or kind in order to promote a participatory approach to development.
Much of the funding which the JSIF has allocated to school projects has been used to finance the construction of new school buildings or rehabilitate and expand existing structures. Although in some cases adequate school facilities exist the JSIF's help is still sought to make critical improvements or provide much needed equipment.
Education officer for Eastern Hanover, Joy Beckford, had high commendations for the work which the JSIF had done islandwide.
