Think Tank
a publication by the Caribbean Policy Research Institute
october 2014
Jamaica: Failing the Education Test Jamaica’s education system leaves many children behind.
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6 legislation tracking
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11 structural
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To Make Building Approval Faster, Make it Simpler
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Editorial Policymakers often get trapped in the process of defining a situation. It takes time to choose the right questions to ask. It takes time to identify the right answers. But when too much time is spent on analysis, it leads to paralysis. Action is not taken. The situation becomes a problem. Over the years, more physical infrastructure has allowed wide-scale enrolment in early childhood and primary schools. Much has been done to measure student performance. There is a high level of testing in the Jamaican educational system. A child has to take at least five sets of exams to successfully complete 11 grade levels. But the results of these tests aren’t really used to inform improvement in the education system. They do identify high performing students. But most students do not perform. Many students are not even allowed to sit these exams because they are not ready. They fail before they test. Most Jamaican children today go to school, but leave without certification or a good educational foundation. The testing system monitors a poorly performing system which provides children with highly variable levels of education. We know what is happening, but that hasn’t solved the problem. (see story on page 4). In an unrelated matter, policymakers are hinging their remedy to a lengthy construction approval process on the monitoring and tracking of applications through the system.
Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) The Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) is a not-for-profit, public policy think tank based at the University of the West Indies, dedicated to the provision of impartial, evidence-based knowledge to inform economic and social policy decisionmaking in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. To read any of our published output in full, please visit www.capricaribbean.org/research. Block H, Sir Alister McIntyre Building, UWI (Mona), Kgn 7, Jamaica WI Tel: (876) 970-3447,970-2910 Fax: (876) 970-4544 info@capricaribbean.org www.capricaribbean.org
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Improved monitoring is always welcome. But a simpler building approval process would, in and of itself, allow billions of dollars to be poured into construction into Jamaica. (see story on page 8). It is good to define, test, analyze and monitor problems. But something different must be done to solve them. Solutions must be implemented that address the challenges faced by, and in, Jamaica. More measurement might help. More execution is needed.
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Jamaica: Failing the Education Test Jamaica’s education system leaves many children behind.
Just over 60% of students have taken all their national standardized tests from grades 1 to 11, and less than 25% of Jamaicans more than 14 years old have any post-secondary certification at all. There is a high level of testing, but this has not driven improved results. Instead, test results facilitate a form of educational Darwinism. Diagnostic tests at grades 1 and 3 (soon to be done at grade 2) are meant to determine children’s readiness and ability to learn, but results are infrequently reported and seldom used to inform efforts at the school or ministry level to improve student performance. The Grade 4 Literacy Test (GFLT) identifies students who won’t be ready for Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) within two years. As much as 20% of the student cohort fails this exam. After failing the GFLT four times, students are transferred to the Alternative Secondary Transitional Education Programme (ASTEP), which is supposed to prepare children with learning difficulties for high school. For those who do take the GSAT, the stakes are high. While it is not a pass-fail exam, children with low scores are likely to be placed at schools viewed as reservoirs for “failing” students and receive lower quality education than their high-scoring counterparts. GSAT results are generally used for grade and school placement; not as data to inform school improvement. Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) results are used to measure individual student performance and indicate school quality, but not to provide effective guidance to schools on how to improve educational outcomes.
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In other words, of about 43,000 students placed in secondary schools five years ago through the GSAT – the fourth test taken at the primary level – just 27,000 sat English Language in the CSEC exam in 2013; 35% failed. About 23,000 sat the Mathematics exam; 55% failed.
Efforts to address these shortcomings, and to provide all Jamaican children with a quality education, should include: “There is little evidence that teachers or administrators are using CSEC results to improve classroom instruction, strengthen school performance, or design programmes targeting areas of weakness” said a report jointly published by Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI) and Partnership for Educational Revitalization in the Americas (PREAL) last year. Schools and teachers will not enter students in exams if it is likely that their performance will adversely impact the overall pass rate of the school. Less than 65% of the students that should have taken CSEC English Language last year registered to take the test. Only 55% registered for Math. In other words, of about 43,000 students placed in secondary schools five years ago through the GSAT – the fourth test taken at the primary level – just 27,000 sat English Language in the CSEC exam in 2013; 35% failed. About 23,000 sat the Mathematics exam; 55% failed. Whether higher levels of standardized testing encourage educators, parents and students to improve performance, or simply increase stress on an unfair and ineffective education system is debatable. But currently, educational shortcomings are not being addressed. Instead of being improved, children are simply being removed: from the examination rooms – and the data. “Leaving out potential low performers skews scores upward, suggesting that performance may be lower than existing scores indicate,” said the PREAL report entitled Prisms of Possibility: A Report Card on Education in Jamaica.
Early education mechanisms to address the learning challenges identified in testing; Differentiated instructional methods in classrooms to engender a more inclusive learning atmosphere for children with different learning styles and levels; and Budgeting and allocation processes that reflect the needs of schools, particularly those most challenged, more effectively.
And the deck is stacked against the poorest. While approximately 90% of Jamaicans more than 14 years old in the lowest income quintile have not passed a single examination at the secondary level or higher, 44% of the wealthiest have. At the primary level, children in privately run preparatory schools - about 10% of the student cohort - outperform their counterparts in the public school system in all five GSAT subjects. Prep school students average 80% on these exams. Public school students average 50-55%. At the secondary level, schools are given similar budgets, although schools serving poorer communities have greater financial needs and less access to the supplementary funding and resources provided by strong alumni associations and parent bodies at traditional high schools. There are numerous reasons for the disparity in educational outcomes, including limited resources and weak educational management systems in schools with children who have greater needs.
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legislation tracking Banking Services Bill to merge regulations of all deposit taking institutions tabled.
enacted in june
Cybercrimes Act amendments
Cabinet approved drafting instructions 6
Tax Collection (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2014 and the Tax Penalties (Harmonization) Act, 2014. Both acts aim to reduce tax evasion.
passed in august
Flexible Work Arrangements Bill.
Passed in September
Data Protection legislation, aimed at protecting the privacy of individuals in relation to personal data and the regulation of the collection, processing, keeping, use and disclosure of certain information relating to individuals.
Under Cabinet review
The Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI)
A Bill aimed at modernizing Jamaica’s public procurement laws. The bill aims to establish a Public Procurement Commission and a Policy Office, as well as, harmonize the public procurement process.
Tabled in july
Disaster Risk Management Bill to strengthen the country’s overall national disaster preparedness, emergency management and response processes and mechanisms
Under Cabinet review
To Make Building Approval Faster,
Make it Simpler With a million dollars on hand and five months in time to wait, a developer might be able to get a building permit in Jamaica. This is a major improvement. A decade ago it took an average of 225 days to get through the eight steps involved in the approval process at a cost nearly three times as high.
AMANDA will enable central tracking of construction permit approvals across all parish councils and a number of agencies, including the National Works Agency (NWA), Mines and Geology Division (MGD), Agricultural Land Management Division (ALMD), and the Environmental Health Unit Kingston (EHUK).
Getting a building permit in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) takes, on average, 80 days longer than the 135 days it takes in Jamaica. On the other hand, the cost of building approval in Jamaica is over 60 percentage points higher than in the LAC, according to the Doing Business 2014 report.
A concept paper has been developed to revise and standardize the structure for application fees and address some fundamental problems associated with the building approval process. However, at least one key issue appears to have missed the attention of policymakers: the lack of simplicity and clarity in the building approval process.
However, Jamaica does not enjoy the LAC’s three per cent annual growth rate. The cost of building permits may fall, in real terms, over time if fees are fixed while inflation runs its course. But that will take time. Removing bureaucratic impediments will provide more immediate results. Further improvements to the approval process for construction permits, which currently results in extensive investment delays, could allow billions of dollars to be poured into construction in the Caribbean country. For over five years, the government has been promising to cut the time for issuing construction permits to 90 days. Only Colombia, where it takes an average of 54 days to get approvals, would be faster in the LAC. The government, in collaboration with the World Bank, is implementing an application tracking system (AMANDA) to improve monitoring of the process, among other things, by the end of 2014.
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As a result, approval time in Hong Kong has fallen from 183 days in 2005 to 73 days today. In Guatemala, it fell from nearly a year to 107 days. The cost of getting a building permit in the Central American country has also fallen - from over 650% of per capita income in 2005 to less than 415% last year.
Applications must pass through at least seven different agencies (not including utility companies) to be checked for compliance with building guidelines ranging from structural and safety standards to the general aesthetics of the proposed development area and, in some instances, environmental codes. In the last decade, Hong Kong and Guatemala have demonstrated the most significant improvements in dealing with construction permits when compared to the rest of the world. They provide good examples of how to simplify the approval process. Both countries implemented a ‘one-stop shop’ where all agencies and utility companies involved in the approval process are represented under the same roof. The special administrative region of China eliminated eight inspection and pre-approval procedures.
The Central American country introduced a risk-based system which allows faster approval of smaller and less complicated construction projects. As a result, approval time in Hong Kong has fallen from 183 days in 2005 to 73 days today. In Guatemala, it fell from nearly a year to 107 days. The cost of getting a building permit in the Central American country has also fallen - from over 650% of per capita income in 2005 to less than 415% last year. Achieving the 90-day objective in Jamaica would appear to require the establishment of the ‘one-stop shop’ used in both Hong Kong and Guatemala to improve co-ordination of the construction approval process, and the introduction of the Guatemalan risk-based approval system to speed up the approval process itself.
A complete prescription to deal with what ails the approval process would also include: • Introducing clearer building guidelines for parish councils and agencies involved in the approval process that ensure there are no conflicts among stakeholder requirements; • Using private sector engineers for plan reviews and inspections to lower the time and real cost burden on public sector resources; and • Applying penalties to approval agencies which fail to provide developers with timely and high quality service within clearly established deadlines. The Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI)
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Current Structural Benchmarks Government to table legislative changes regarding unlawful financial operations, consistent with IMF technical assistance advice provided in July 2010.
Government to table GCT amendments to extend refund claims from 30 days to over 5 months and bring forward GCT due date by 10 days, among other things. Government to establish a distinct treatment for retail repo client interests in the legal and regulatory framework.
Implement new computer system at Customs (ASYCUDA) World for the Kingston Port as a pilot site.
Ensure that the public service database e-census is up to date and covers all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Develop an action plan for public sector transformation, which includes: 1) introducing shared corporate services; 2) outsourcing of services; and 3) merger of departments
March 31 deadline met
June 30 deadline met
New implementation date proposed for December. Changed from June 2014, following extension from March 2014
Proposed for December 2014. Jamaica Customs Agency projecting February 2015 implementation
September 10, 2014 deadline proposed.
September 30. 2014 deadline proposed
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