Education and Training Key to Achieving Sustainable Growth – Dr. Chang
By: , August 27, 2017The Key Point:
The Facts
- Noting that there was no substitute for a good education, Dr. Chang said he was encouraged by the growing number of students pursuing tertiary education.
- Dr. Chang said he was convinced that if given the opportunities, “students from these communities can rise to the occasion and (play) their part in making (Jamaica) a better nation.”
The Full Story
Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, says education and training are key to Jamaica’s attainment of sustainable growth.
He argues that while the Government will “do all that is required” to spur greater economic growth, this will not be optimally realized “unless we (continue to) educate and train our people.”
The Minister was delivering the keynote address at an awards ceremony hosted by the University of the West Indies (UWI) Western Campus in Montego Bay on August 24.
Noting that there was no substitute for a good education, Dr. Chang said he was encouraged by the growing number of students pursuing tertiary education.
The Minister said he was particularly impressed that a significant number of students from communities deemed marginalized in North West St. James, for which he is the Member of Parliament, were embarking on this endeavor. He presented several of them with bursaries during the ceremony.
Dr. Chang said the bursaries, funded through provisions from his Constituency Development Fund, were intended to assist students “who have done well and need some assistance to move on to tertiary institutions.”
He said the assistance was extended because “I know how challenging it can be…because of economic (constraints and other factors) to get a college education.”
Dr. Chang said he was convinced that if given the opportunities, “students from these communities can rise to the occasion and (play) their part in making (Jamaica) a better nation.”
For his part, Jason Bowen, a native of St. James and past beneficiary of the bursary assistance programme, expressed gratitude for the intervention which he said helped him to complete his medical studies at the UWI.
“I have to give thanks (because) I really don’t know what would have happened had I not gotten this level of assistance. All I can say to students (is), it doesn’t matter where you are from or what your circumstances are…you can do it,” he stated.