Jamaica Day to Highlight Positive Values and Attitudes

Jamaica Day activities are closely aligned to the Ministry of National Security’s Liv Gud anti-violence campaign.

The Day is being celebrated on February 23, and the Ministry of Education and Youth affirms that the positive values and attitudes of what it means to be Jamaican are part of efforts to move away from deviant behaviours in the society.

Jamaica Day Planning Committee Chair and Senior Education Officer in the Ministry of Education and Youth’s Core Curriculum Unit, Marlon Williams, told a recent Jamaica Information Service (JIS) ‘Think Tank’ that the Liv Gud campaign is not only anti-violence, but also cultural in nature.

“The Minister of National Security indicated that it is cultural in nature. Culture has to do with how we operate as human beings. We always talk about the village raising a child. When you look at those behaviours, they are cultural and that is what the Liv Gud campaign is trying to bring back,” Mr. Williams said.

He noted that the good attributes of the people of Jamaica are highlighted on Jamaica Day and are also seen in the Liv Gud campaign.

“There’s no distance between what we are trying to do as the Ministry of Education and what the Ministry of National Security is promoting. The fact is, as Jamaicans, we should be operating and behaving a particular way, setting the example for the rest of the world to follow,” Mr. Williams said.

He explained that school is not just a place of academic learning, but also for students to learn life lessons.

“What the Ministry of National Security is doing is in collaboration with what the Ministry of Education is doing when we set out to teach our students, not just math and language and music and drama, but we’re teaching them how to behave, how to operate as global citizens, and that’s what the Ministry of National Security is working on,” he said.

“So, using the Ministry of National Security, that’s just one example of how other Ministries and what they do relate to what we do in celebrating Jamaica, in celebrating Jamaica Day,” Mr. Williams added.

In 2011, Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen, proclaimed that Jamaica Day be celebrated annually on the last Friday of February, unless there are adverse circumstances.