Finance ministry backs education funding call as police oversight and gun smuggling concerns rise

Jamaica’s finance ministry has accepted that teachers’ concerns about school resources and working conditions are valid, even as it says education already receives one of the country’s largest budget allocations. State Minister Xavier Mayne, speaking Monday for Finance Minister Fayval Williams at the Jamaica Teachers’ Association Go Public Fund Education Forum, said the call for more spending is legitimate but must be weighed against limited public funds.

Mayne said Government is involved in education reform and must also ensure money already in the system delivers better results. He linked education investment to Jamaica’s economic future, saying today’s students will become tomorrow’s workforce and that businesses affected by skills gaps, low productivity and remedial training costs have a direct interest in stronger classrooms.

Opposition spokesperson on justice Zuleika Jess is also pressing for reform of Jamaica’s police accountability system after INDECOM data showed 133 people have been fatally shot by security forces since the start of 2026, averaging more than 26 per month. Jess criticised recent comments from Justice Minister Delroy Chuck on deadly force against fleeing suspects and from the police commissioner urging officers not to be frozen by public criticism.

Jess, the MP for St. Elizabeth North Eastern, said police have the right to defend themselves from lethal threats, but warned that flight should not amount to an automatic death sentence. She called for mandatory body-worn cameras during planned operations, stronger de-escalation training and improved independent oversight. Chuck, speaking last month at a public education forum in Coral Spring, Trelawny, said common law allows reasonable force, including deadly force, where that is the only way to stop a fleeing felon.

In another development, a Jamaican-American already under local investigation is among five men indicted in the United States over alleged firearms trafficking. The Jamaica Constabulary Force said the man has been a major target of its Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division, which is probing the importation of about 239 guns and nearly 30,000 rounds of ammunition into Jamaica. US prosecutors allege stolen weapons from vehicle break-ins in the Atlanta area were offered through a network and moved through commercial channels, with more than 350 firearms listed for sale and several shipments intercepted.