State Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Delano Franklyn, has told principals and vice principals to upgrade themselves in order “to compete with the best” in the Caribbean.

Senator Franklyn, who was addressing the general meeting of the Association of Principals and Vice Principals on Saturday (February 19) at the Seaforth High School in St. Thomas, said that there would be added competition for jobs, when the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) came into effect.

“There is going to come a time when a school advertising for a principal in Jamaica will not only be advertising within the confines of Jamaica. That advertisement will have to go Caribbean-wide and when those applications are being examined by the authority, it is the best from among the lot that will be chosen,” he pointed out.

According to the State Minister, “there must be some standard of certification” applicable to all countries as it related to the recruitment of teachers. “So if you are not marketable in Jamaica, just think very seriously how marketable you will be in the Caribbean,” he said.

He noted that even though the government had a responsibility to ensure that its teaching force was properly trained and certified, the greater responsibility rested with the individual.

Turning to arguments being raised against the setting up of the CSME and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Senator Franklyn said that the concerns were similar to those raised decades ago, when other regional entities were being established.

“The thinking and the views of those who would be interested in maintaining what exists from outside, have not changed over the years,” he stated, recalling that at the setting up of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) persons argued whether the resources should be utilised elsewhere, or whether there were persons with the intellect and integrity to run the office. He further recalled, that there were queries as to whether the time was right for the establishment of the entity.

He said the implementation of the CXC “is a living testimony that we have people in the Caribbean who are just as good, if not better, than persons outside of the Caribbean.”

“It is time that we move away from lacking confidence in ourselves to do things and to understand that we as Jamaicans – irrespective of our own history, irrespective of our own challenges, irrespective of what we are required to do on a day to day basis with little or no resources – can do things for ourselves, ” the State Minister stated further.

During his presentation, Senator Franklyn traced the history of the CSME to the present, beginning with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas in 1973. He also examined the connection of the CSME with the CCJ and the recent ruling by the Privy Council, which has effectively delayed the setting up of the CCJ.