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Primary School Children Aiming High

April 29, 2010

The Full Story

Students at Tavares Gardens Primary School, in the inner city community of Payne Land, in Kingston, are aiming for top professions, such as lawyers, doctors, pilots, policemen, nurses, teachers and business persons.
This was evident yesterday (April 27), as the students paraded in the attire of their chosen career, during the school’s Annual Career Day, held as part of the goal to inspire and develop disciplined students and a culture of academic excellence.
For seven-year-old Sashaye Hall of Grade two, “Career Day means talking about doctors and lawyers, but I want to be a businesswoman. I want to manage a business . I want to make money,” she told JIS News in an interview.

Head of Special Projects at the Jamaica Information Service (JIS), Latoya Crossman, informing students of Tavares Gardens Primary School about the various career fields at the JIS, during the school’s Career Day, held yesterday (April 27).

“I want to be a pilot, because I love planes . I can travel a lot,” said Andre Mitchell. But for his friend, Triston Smiley, “I want to be a criminal lawyer . I want to lock up people who do bad stuff . when they break into people’s houses and steal their things, I want to lock them up.” As for Devon Tennant, he wants to be a policeman, “because I want to keep people safe.”
Third Grade student, Alicia Powell who said she likes babies and wants to take care of them, wants to be a nurse. She is aiming at five CXC subjects, including Mathematics, English, Language Arts and Integrated Science. “I want to study at the University of the West Indies,” she told JIS News.
Sharika Spence, who is in Grade 4 and expects to write her GSAT examinations in two years, said she has experience taking care of old people and while she does not want to be a doctor, she is eager to become a nurse, “because I like to take care of old people.”
Principal of the school, Linnette Malcolm, who has been teaching there since 1977 and became Principal in 1992, said she was pleased with the day’s activities, which included presentations by several institutions, such as National Commercial Bank, Jamaica Constabulary Force, The Jamaica Fire Brigade, the American Embassy and the Jamaica Information Service (JIS). There were also talks by two doctors and a nurse. She hoped that the presentations would influence the career choices of her students.

Two students of Tavares Gardens Primary School perform a skit, during the school’s Career Day, which was held yesterday (April 27).

“I have seen success before. We have nurses, teachers and others in professional positions,” she said.
Chairman of the School Board, Rev. Winston Watson, spoke of the challenges facing the school, such as low population and the less than ideal involvement of parents.

Students of Tavares Gardens Primary School parading on the grounds of the school wearing the uniform of their chosen profession, during the school’s Career Day, yesterday (April 27).

“One of the things we realise in our culture is that all stakeholders should become involved in every aspect of our education system and one of the major stakeholders is the parents, but unfortunately, depending on the community you are in, the parents don’t always see the necessity to be instrumental in guiding their children towards a career, because they themselves do not have a career, so what we are trying to do in some of our other activities we have here in the school, is to help them see that,” he told JIS News.
Rev. Watson said that parents are participating a lot more now than several years ago. “It is still not as much as we would like, so with our parenting seminars and their involvement in other events here, we are giving them an opportunity to see how advantageous it is to give their children what they didn’t have. They have no frame of reference and so we give them that opportunity to see that they can get more involved,” he said.
He said that over the next year, it is the Board’s desire to establish a basic school, which would feed into the primary school.

Last Updated: August 16, 2013

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