Education, training to get largest budget allocation

Finance Minister Colm Imbert has allocated $8.022 billion to the education sector for the fiscal year 2024. This is the largest allocation in the budget.

Reading the budget statement on Monday, he outlined several initiatives the government will be carry out over the next year in the sector.

One initiative will be the introduction of a means-tested school supply grant of $1,000 in 2024. He said this would cost $65 million and is expected to benefit 65,000 needy students.

The funds are for school supplies such as uniforms, shoes, book bags, stationery and books.

Imbert said the ministry was also aware of the "ever-changing booklists, which are unwarranted in the areas requiring little change, such as science subjects like chemistry.

"These continuous additions and alterations to school booklists create additionally yearly expenses for families. In 2024, therefore, we intend to consult with stakeholders in the education sector, for standardised textbooks as far as is practical, and eliminate the need for unnecessary new textbooks arriving on the curriculum every year."

He said the practice was putting too much strain on needy families, who cannot pass on books from one generation of children to another.

Under the school nutrition programme, he said, students were provided with 7,295,800 breakfast meals, 9,064,113 lunches and 178,741 refreshments.

Imbert said 2,400 fit-for-purpose laptops will be distributed to students and selected staff through a network of 94 secondary schools.

The statement on laptop distribution was greeted with laughter by UNC Naparima MP Rodney Charles, prompting Imbert to respond, "This time we will do it in a sober, sane and sensible way."

Imbert said government will be offering a 150 per cent tax allowance, up to $500,000 to corporate entities which donate to public and private schools registered with the Ministry of Education. He said this would require amendments to the Income Tax Act.

The Finance Minister said government would continue the remedial education and vacation remedial education programmes, being carried out in 106 schools and benefiting 25,000 students, ensuring all students can continue to participate in and attend learning and extracurricular activities.

Imbert said programmes would be developed to train technical and vocational teachers to fill vacancies in current technical and vocational courses, so that more young people could benefit from sustainable jobs.

"We are ensuring our young people have continued access to quality technical and vocational education for employment, decent work and quality entrepreneurship."

He said professional development activities for teachers were continuous.

"In 2022-2023 training was provided for 80 primary and 26 secondary school teachers. Three hundred and 18 teachers in primary schools were trained in new classroom strategies, and similar training was conducted with 200 new teachers."

The Finance Minister said $7.69 million will be allocated to expand adult literacy training in 2024, and government will invest in initiatives to strengthen adult education and literacy for the least advantaged.

He said over the last two years, the Adult Literacy Tutors Association (ALTA) has partnered with the Digital Transformation Ministry to provide an online version of its literacy programme to people in underserved communities.

He said ALTA Online can expand immediately and is only limited by access to a smartphone or tablet, with community centres and public libraries being possible venues for access.

The reach of the adult literacy programme, he said, has been expanded "to include CEPEP and URP workers, among others. This will add 4,000 people per annum to the programme, and would be voluntary.

“For this purpose I’ve allocated $4.69 million to the expansion.”

Imbert said the ministry would also partner with the Central Bank to offer financial literary programmes and will allocate $5 million for this in 2024.

“I am engaging the Central Bank to forge a national financial literacy strategy, as a collaborative initiative among the Central Bank and other financial institutions, such as the Unit Trust Corporation and the Credit Union League.

“The programme will promote the thrust of the Central Bank to produce better informed, educated, and more financially literate citizens with the skills and knowledge to make sensible decisions about their money.”

Imbert said the focus would be on at-risk communities and lower-income groups.