Education Minister Lauds Rotary Movement

Minister of Education, Hon. Rev. Ronald Thwaites, has lauded the Rotary Movement for its invaluable contribution to the country’s education sector.

“(I am pleased with) the interest of the Rotary Club of St. Andrew and indeed the Rotary Movement in Jamaica in education. I want to commend all the clubs for their devotion to education,” he said.

Rev. Thwaites was speaking at the Rotary Club of St. Andrew luncheon meeting, held at the Hotel Four Seasons, in St. Andrew, on January 28.

The Minister made special mention of the Rotary Club of Kingston for their involvement in ‘JA BizTown’, an experimental learning programme targeting Grade 5 and 6 students, which was launched last year. It was conceptualised by the club and Junior Achievement Jamaica (JAJ).

The programme involves a four-week learning experience, which will increase students’ knowledge of how the economy works, the importance of education in pursuing a career, and how to conduct everyday transactions, which involve filling out forms, among other activities.

“This is of tremendous importance as we seek to make more and more of our young people adept in the basic principles of entrepreneurship, of money management and of business ethics. This is a tremendous contribution that your movement has made to the Jamaica educational (system),” he noted.

In the meantime, the Minister said he is also pleased that one of the major projects for the Rotary Club of St. Andrew this year involved improvements to an early childhood institution. “You have chosen well,” he said.

This focus on early childhood education, the Minister noted, is in keeping with the Ministry’s thrust to boost the outcomes of this sector, which involves the merger of unviable basic schools into infant schools.

Rev. Thwaites explained that in an infant school, the Government pays for at least one trained teacher, ensures that there are proper nutritional supplements, and that a common curriculum is followed.

“These are the basic measurements that are necessary in order to ensure that by the end of the early childhood period, our children are ready to undertake primary and secondary education,” he said.

In this vein, the Minister pointed out that he has offered to help the club ensure that the institution they will be working with becomes an infant school, “with the proper continuity and level of professional support, which will ensure that the dividends will multiply copiously.”

The meeting was held under the theme: ‘The Solutions by way of Education: Our Competitive Advantage’.