Access to Secondary Education a Proud Achievement – Thwaites

Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, said the fact that every student has the opportunity for a five-year secondary school education is a proud achievement for the country.

Speaking at Mount Alvernia High School’s prize giving ceremony at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Montego Bay, St. James on Thursday (October 29, the Minister said that there was a time when the opportunity for a high school education was reserved for “a special few.”

He said today’s students should appreciate the fact that doors are now open for them to be anything they want to be in life.

“Please understand how fortunate you and I are, to have the opportunity for a good education,” Mr. Thwaites told students.

“Fifty-three years ago, at Independence, only 15 per cent of the young people in your age group had the opportunity for a high school education.  In today’s Jamaica, with all the problems, with all the criticisms, every single person at your age group has the opportunity for a secondary education,” he said.

Mr. Thwaites added that every stakeholder had a responsibility to ensure that Jamaica’s educational system remains first class, charging students that they too have to play their part in ensuring equity and quality.

The Minister reminded that 50 per cent of all the public schools in Jamaica are founded on religious principles and that the church will forever have an integral role to play in shaping young lives.