Education

Public spending on education was 5.3% of GDP in 2005. There are six years of compulsory education starting at age six. Net enrolment ratios are 90% for primary and 78% for secondary, and gross enrolment ratio for all levels combined 78% (2005). The pupil-teacher ratio for primary is 28:1 and for secondary 18:1 (2005). The school year starts in September.

About 17% of the relevant age group is enrolled in tertiary education (2002/03). The regional University of the West Indies (established in 1946) has its principal campus at Mona, near Kingston, and other main campuses in Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago. In January 2009, the 44 other tertiary institutions in Jamaica registered with the University Council of Jamaica included the University of Technology, College of Agriculture, Science and Education, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, GC Foster College of Physical Education and Sports, Knox Community College and Northern Caribbean University (owned by the Seventh-day Adventists, located in Mandeville, a university since 1999). Illiteracy among people aged 15-24 is 5.7% (8.7% for males and 2.2% for females, 2006).

The Caribbean Examinations Council, established in 1972 by an agreement among 15 English-speaking Commonwealth Caribbean countries and territories, provides examinations and certification at secondary and post-secondary levels. The Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examination is for students at the end of the secondary education cycle; the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations for post-secondary students entering the world of work and for those candidates who wish to continue their further education at the tertiary level. The Council has its headquarters in Barbados and western zone office in Jamaica.

The ministry of education places particular emphasis, in teacher training and in the classroom, on mathematics and numeracy, as essential skills in all areas of study and in everyday life.

Special education is provided mainly by private voluntary organisations in partnership with government. Some 75 agencies and organisations, many affiliated to churches, run adult education programmes.