Education Minister Moves Forward With Free Textbook Initiative

The Honourable Minister of Education Delmaude Ryan is delivering on her promise to make learning in Montserrat more accessible and affordable.

The Ministry on Wednesday began the process of procuring the supply of textbooks for the public schools.

In making the initial announcement in 2017 Mrs. Ryan stated that parents would no longer have to purchase books for Math and English, therefore reducing the financial burden.

She said the free school books initiative is in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Number 4, which is to ensure exclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

The Ministry says for many years the parents of children attending the Montserrat Secondary School have been asked to provide textbooks for their children.

It noted that as the number of subjects increases and the cost of each textbook increase, the overall cost to parents have become quite burdensome.

The Ministry of Education is of the view that not all parents can afford the books and many have had to choose between buying books or buying health care.

It says children’s access to quality education has become a function of the socio-economic status of families.

The Ministry thinks this is unfair and affects adversely the life chances of children due to no fault of their own, and has therefore determined that it will remove the burden from the parents and will absorb the cost of the textbooks.