Kingston, November 1 – The Government is making it easier for adolescent mothers to complete their education. 

The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, says,

“The Policy for the Reintegration of School-Age Mothers into the Formal School System makes it mandatory for adolescent mothers to return to the education system after the birth of their babies.” 

Minister Grange was speaking at a Stakeholders’ Forum organised by the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation at the Jamaica Conference Centre today (Thursday), where she signed a Letter of Commitment with the Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, the Honourable Floyd Green. 

The policy will ensure automatic referral of all pregnant girls to the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, reintegration of all adolescent mothers into the formal school system, either in their former school or in another school at the same level and the monitoring of adolescent mothers to ensure that they complete their education. 

Prior to this policy, the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport was responsible for negotiating spaces with schools. 

Minister Grange said that over that past five years two thousand and two adolescent mothers have been reintegrated into the formal school system.

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