Opposition Spokesman on Education Damion Crawford has blasted the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government for the purported failures in the education sector and shortfalls in the school bus system.

“Because the Jamaica Labour Party has sacrificed the children of this country,” Crawford said.

Crawford painted a dismal picture of the education system’s trajectory under JLP leadership, comparing key performance indicators in education from 2015 to the present day, citing stark declines in core subjects.

“In 2015, mathematics passes were 14,700 children,” he said. “Currently it’s 7,826. If we make Labourite win again, over five years, 35,000 fewer children will pass mathematics. We cannot afford that,” he warned.

Crawford further highlighted that literacy rates dropped from 84 per cent in 2015 when the PNP was in power to the current 65 per cent. “That is almost 7,000 people that normally would have been able to read, cannot read,” Crawford said.

He also accused the JLP of misinformation, mocking their shifting narrative on educational progress. “Let me show you how Labourites lie like show. I’m not talking regular show. I’m talking about John Wick,” he said. He referenced former Education Minister Fayval Williams’ past statement that “mathematics was in crisis”—contrasted by the current minister, Dana Morris-Dixon, claiming the system is “on the right track”.

“You know how many more children passed this year than last year? Nine children passed this year more than last year!” he exclaimed while speaking at the Central Jamaica Mass Rally on Sunday, August 24.

“Me alone get 44 [students] and the whole ministry get 9,” he mocked, citing a school he personally supports that had significantly improved results.”

Turning to school transportation, Crawford mocked the JLP’s celebration of “new” school buses, citing that children are still being absent from schools. “But this is the difference between what we see and what they see. We see a problem with children not going to school. We have in the very rural places, out of 190 days, some children missing 90 days… We recognise that a bus was not the answer,” Damion said.

Crawford stated that the PNP will subsidise travel from certain areas so that the children can get to school. “For those children, the PNP will give $2,500 a week, which works out to $10,000 a month.”