Education, health: JLP outscores PNP

The Government's decision to offer free tuition at the secondary level, plus other changes implemented in the education system over the past four years, has started to pay off in the polls.

The Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has now overtaken the previous People's National Party (PNP) government as the administration Jamaicans believe has done a better job with education.

Golding and his team have also extended their lead over the PNP as the administration Jamaicans believe has done a better job with health care.

That's the finding of the latest Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll. The poll, with a sample size of 1,008, was conducted from May 28 to 29 and June 4 to 5, and has a margin of error of plus or minus four per cent.

45% say better job

Johnson and his team found that 45 per cent of Jamaicans believe the JLP government, with Education Minister Andrew Holness as the driving force, is doing a better job at handling education than the PNP did.

That put the JLP nine percentage points above the PNP which 36 per cent of the respondents said had done a better job with education. Nineteen per cent of Jamaicans said they did not know which of the parties has done a better job.

The latest poll finding represents a major turnaround from April last year when the PNP was head and shoulders above the JLP.

When Johnson and his team had tested the pulse of Jamaica a year ago, 46 per cent of respondents had said the PNP had done a better job with education, while 37 per cent said the JLP.

Since then, the tide has shifted sharply with the JLP numbers improving by eight percentage points and the PNP's numbers declining by 10 percentage points.

Johnson and his team did not test the reason for this change but it is believed that improved grades in a number of subjects, including mathematics and English language, in the Caribbean Examinations Council last year, plus an upward trend in the performance of primary school students in the Grade Six Achievement Test would have boosted the ranking of the present education minister and his team.

Shares credit

However, Holness is not taking all the credit for what he describes as a work in progress.

"Education policy needs continuity. Planning cannot be done in five-year cycles. You need at least 10 years and the previous government had plans under the Education Transformation Programme that we have implemented," he told The Gleaner.

According to Holness, his ministry has focused on the foundation level of early childhood and primary education.

"We have increased access to primary and early-childhood school, and have almost 95 per cent enrolment with more students not missing school days because of the improved nutrition programme which we have implemented," he said.

"At the high-school level, we have increased the number of students in fifth form by 10 per cent since 2007 and that is from the no-tuition-fee policy, increased nutrition and the phasing out of the junior high and all-age schools," added Holness.

He noted that the Career Advancement Programme, which captures students between 16 and 20 years old, has already attracted 10,000 people and is helping persons who would be out of school and on street corners.

"The public understands the drive towards efficiency and performance in schools and, while I am not yet jumping about the improved exam results, a positive trend is starting to develop," said Holness.

Free health care a winner

In the meantime, the free health care introduced by the JLP shortly after its 2007 election victory continues to be a winner for the party.

Despite lingering concerns about the long waiting time at some public-health facilities, the shortage of some critical drugs and equipment and the frequent clashes between the State and health-care workers, Jamaicans still believe the minister, Rudyard Spencer, and the JLP government are doing a better job than the PNP did.

The latest Johnson poll found that 47 per cent of Jamaicans believe the JLP is offering the country better public health care than the PNP ever did. That is up from 42 per cent one year ago.

The PNP gets the nod from 35 per cent of the respondents, down from 39 per cent last year, while the number of Jamaicans who said they are not sure which of the parties was better at health care remained almost constant from last year at 18 per cent.