More Schools With the Church: Holness Tells a Catholic Pentecost Assembly the State Wants to Build With Faith Groups

• Prime Minister Andrew Holness said government will expand its partnership with churches to establish more schools
• He spoke at the Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston’s 2023 Pentecost Assembly at the National Arena
• He praised church-run schools for producing “world-leading talent”
• Faith-based education, he said, is “still powerful and valuable”

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has said the government intends to deepen its partnership with churches to establish more schools, arguing that Jamaica needs education grounded in values, the Jamaica Observer reported, citing the Jamaica Information Service.

Holness was speaking at the 2023 Pentecost Assembly, organised by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston at the National Arena. He said Jamaica had gone through a “transition” in its core values. “I believe the church can play and is playing a very important role in fortifying the society,” he said. He also asked the church to consider whether more could be done to “protect and support our Jamaican civilization”.

He praised the results of church-run schools. “Our education system is not as bad as some would have it to be. We have schools that continue to produce world-leading talent,” he said. Even as society becomes more secular, he added, “being grounded in a faith-based educational programme is still powerful and valuable in today’s world”.

The report did not give figures for how many new schools were planned, where they would be, or how costs would be shared between church and state. Holness did make clear that he sees the churches as partners in expanding the school system, not just as the historic owners of many existing schools.

The promise matters for property. Many Jamaican schools stand on church land, and a new round of church-state building needs sites, titles, leases and agreements on who maintains the buildings. Denominations holding unused acreage near growing communities may find that land in demand for classrooms. Families choosing where to buy or rent weigh how close they are to a well-regarded school, so a new church-run school can lift a neighbourhood’s appeal. Churches considering a partnership should be clear from the start who owns the land and buildings, who pays for repairs, and what happens if the arrangement ends.

Follow Jamaica Homes on Youtube @jamaicahomes and Instagram @jamaica_homes and on Facebook @jamaicahomesnews Send us a message or email us at onlinefeedback@jamaica-homes.com or editor@jamaica-homes.com