Jamaica’s Education Minister, Senator Dr. Dana Morris Dixon, delivered a powerful and emotionally charged address on Thursday, demanding a national reckoning on the island’s pervasive child sexual abuse crisis. Speaking at the Child Protection and Family Services Agency’s 2025 Educational Achievement Awards Ceremony in St. Andrew, the minister shattered societal silence by revealing alarming statistics and personal testimonies.
Minister Morris Dixon disclosed that conversations with first-form students uncovered a devastating reality: the majority of girls in their classes had already experienced rape. Citing the 2023 Violence Against Children and Youth survey, she highlighted that nearly one in four females (23.7%) and over one in ten males (11.7%) endure sexual violence during childhood. ‘We’re not doing enough to protect our children,’ she stated bluntly. ‘We all know it’s happening, but we are all being polite about it. Politeness isn’t going to take us forward.’
The minister outlined a comprehensive policy agenda addressing multiple child welfare fronts. She emphasized urgent reforms to Jamaica’s adoption framework, describing current processes as unnecessarily complex and slow. As a foster parent herself, Morris Dixon championed family-based care solutions, asserting that ‘the best place for a child is in a home with family’ while acknowledging the challenges of fostering.
Another critical focus emerged on special needs children, with the minister noting severe program shortages both during schooling and after they reach adulthood. She called for developing safeguarding frameworks and business participation mechanisms to create sustainable support systems.
The ceremony simultaneously celebrated 64 awardees among 132 state-care students who excelled in secondary examinations. The CPFSA invests over $80 million annually in educational support from early childhood through tertiary levels. Minister Morris Dixon inspired recipients to overcome societal prejudice: ‘There will be people who may want to diminish you, but you must never let them.’