In education, have girls been historically favoured over boys?

As the debate continues around the state of education in Jamaica and the recent report of the Education Transformation Commission, there is an opinion in the public domain that girls have been historically favoured over boys in the educational system, which I wish to address.

There are currently an estimated 149 secondary schools in Jamaica. It has been highlighted that there are 15 all-girls secondary schools and only seven all-boys schools. Note that the other 127 are co-educational. In 2021, 10 of the 15 all-girls schools were ranked in the top 20 secondary schools in the country and two of the seven all-boys schools. The other eight were co-ed. The number of all-girls schools and their excellent performance are given as an indication that girls have been favoured over boys, to their disadvantage.

Regarding the education of girls, before the 20th century, education in Britain, which influenced action in Jamaica, was primarily focused on boys. Existing schools at all levels in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries were mainly run by church bodies, though there were some independent schools.

Jamaican plantation owners and managers sent their sons, including their coloured sons, to Britain to be educated in elite schools. Their daughters were expected to marry, take care of the home and children, and do charitable work. They did not need much education.

Amy Lloyd in Education, Literacy and the Reading Public states that “in 1800 around 40 percent of males and 60 percent of females in England and Wales were illiterate; by 1900 illiteracy for both sexes had dropped to around three percent”. The latter resulted from reforms in education. With the 1870 Education Act, the British government now directly provided elementary education, and between 1880 and 1891, required compulsory attendance for children (boys and girls) age five to 10 and made elementary education free. These reforms were also implemented in the British West Indian colonies. Thus, the colonial government focused on elementary education. Secondary education was left to private benefactors.

NOT BEEN A PRIORITY

In Jamaica, from 1655-1834, education was not provided to the enslaved. There was some basic teaching provided by Moravian Missionaries, who were brought to Jamaica in 1754. Education of girls generally had not been a priority.

In the beginning, schools in Jamaica were established by bequests and by churches. Some planters, merchants and other white professionals, in their wills, bequeathed funds to establish schools for poor children, mostly poor whites and coloured.

When reforms were introduced at the elementary level in 1871, the literacy rate was 16.3 per cent in a population of about 506,000. By 1960, the Jamaican literacy rate was 84 per cent from age 10 and above in a growing population of over 1, 600, 000.

The trust and church secondary schools were private, fee-paying institutions until the 1950s when, with a greater need for secondary education and equity, they became government grant-aided with the introduction of the Common Entrance Examinations.

Which are the 15 all-girls secondary schools and when and by whom were they established? They are:

1. Wolmer’s Girls – Wolmer’s was established in 1729 from a bequest by John Wolmer, a silversmith. The Girls Division was established in 1779;

2. Immaculate Conception – established in 1858 by Catholic Sisters;

3. Hampton – founded from the Munro and Dickenson Trust in 1858;

4. Westwood – founded in 1882 by Baptist Minister William Menzie Webb and his wife;

5. Alpha Convent of Mercy – established in 1894 by Jesse Ripoll as a Catholic school;

6. St. Hugh’s – established in 1899 and run by the Anglican Deaconesses Order;

7. St. Hilda’s – established in 1906 by Anglican Canon James Phillip Hall;

8. Merle Grove – established in 1920 by Nathaniel Speid and his daughter, Miriam;

9. St. Andrew – established in 1925 with the support of the Presbyterian and Wesleyan churches;

10. Mount Alvernia – established in 1925 by the Catholic Allegany Franciscan Sisters;

11. Montego Bay High School – established in 1935, it was the first Jamaican government-owned girls’ school;

12 Marymount – established in 1935 by the Sisters of the Catholic Franciscan Order;

13. Holy Childhood – established in 1937 by the Catholic Franciscan Missionary Sisters;

14. Queen’s – established in 1953 on the recommendation of Anglican Bishop Cyril Foster Garbett; and

15. Bishop Gibson – founded in 1962 by Rt. Rev. Percival Gibson.

Women were involved in the founding of several of these schools. They sought to fill a gap in the education of girls, who were historically among the marginalised and vulnerable.

GENDER REBALANCING

Available information indicates that between 1953-1970, the Jamaican government decided to focus on providing co-educational secondary institutions and thus schools may have been merged, reducing the number of boys’-only schools. What appears to be favouring girls, the gender rebalancing, seems to date to this policy shift. I think any disadvantage to boys was unintentional and other issues must be considered. In fact, the debate about the merits of single sex versus co-ed schools has been taking place also at the regional and international levels. The trend seems to be favouring co-ed schools.

Instead of now courting divisiveness, let us acknowledge and address the problems in education while giving our girls and women the praise, which is due for their hard work, perseverance, diligence and creativity.