Principal slams politicians for treatment of inner-city schools

Principal of Halie Selassie High School, Anniona Jones, is calling on Jamaica's leaders to move beyond talk and deliver real equality and equity for inner-city schools like the one she leads.

Since taking over leadership of the institution in January, Jones has been vocal about the challenges. She says it is time for policymakers to feel the weight of the struggles that students and schools face every day.

"If our leaders had to send their own children to schools like Haile Selassie, would they still lead the same way?" she asked during Tuesday's Founder's Day celebration at the institution.

The event, held under the theme "Back to the Beginning as the Foundation for the Future", didn't just celebrate the past -- it demanded accountability for the future.

Jones said too many politicians like to boast about their humble beginnings but are quick to abandon the communities that shaped them.

"They love to say where they're from," she said, "but as soon as they could, they left it all behind."

With over two decades of teaching experience, Jones stressed that equal treatment across schools is not the same as fair treatment, especially when the needs are so vastly different.

Schools have been allocated between $17,000 and $19,000 per student since the imposition of the no-tuition fee policy.

"We need to stop talking equality and start acting on equity."

Jones argued that true transformation in the education sector starts when decision makers come down from the hill and walk with the people.

"Don't just study problems from abroad. Come back, drive on our roads, sit in our hospitals, eat from the same cookshops these students eat from. Then tell me what needs to change."

For Jones, the name Haile Selassie carries not just history but also responsibility. Located in Payne Avenue, in St Andrew South West, the school is a gift from Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia when he visited in 1966. The institution was opened on September 9, 1969.

LOCAL STRUGGLES

"A school named after Haile Selassie can't observe Founder's Day and ignore what's happening in the world," she said, linking local struggles to global conflicts like the one in Burkina Faso.

"Wherever Black people are suffering, we should care because life is a cycle. What affects one will soon affect all."

Jones issued a bold challenge to the nation's political leaders.

"I want a leader who's brave enough to stop politicising the things that make us thrive -- education, healthcare, security. Somebody willing to put people before power. Children in struggling communities can't be inspired when their basic needs aren't being met."

"Too many Jamaicans are barely surviving," she said. "How do I motivate a child who comes to school hungry, or from a home without hope?"

Jones wants to see real investments tracked all the way to the classroom -- not just through ministry reports and project announcements.