The Jamaican education system is currently on a path of transformation. As outlined in the recommendations of the Task Force on Educational Reform (2004) report, it is envisaged that by 2015 significant progress will be made in student performance and the education system as a whole. One important plank of this process is the decentralization of the education system. With decentralization being implemented in the health sector and in particular the Ministry of Health (MOH) since 1998 and Local Government since 1994, what lessons can be learned from their experiences?

Utilising data collected in 1991 through the Survey of Living Conditions in Jamaica, the study analyses the linkage between mothers' educational levels and the health status of children. The results of the study are three-fold. First, increased levels of mothers' education are associated with: (i) reduction in number of days that children are ill; (ii) reduction in household size and; (iii) increase in household income. Secondly, increased levels of household income are associated with reduction in number of days that children are ill.