Professor Calls on Jamaicans to Adopt Principles of Garvey

Professor Emeritus at the University of the West Indies, (UWI), Rupert Lewis, is calling on Jamaicans to adopt the principles of National Hero, the Rt. Excellent Marcus Garvey, especially those dealing with education.

Pointing out that Marcus Garvey was an astute scholar, Professor Lewis said there is a strong correlation between education and economic development and if Jamaicans adopt that principle from the National Hero, the future will be bright.

The Professor was addressing a ceremony to mark the 128^th birthday of Marcus Garvey,  held on the grounds of the St. Ann Parish Library, in St. Ann’s Bay, on Monday, August 17.

He said that while there is a need for literacy and numeracy to be developed, there is a greater need for the improvement of what is called scientific literacy.

“The relationship between education and economic development forces us to rapidly improve the need for our population to develop literacy and numeracy, as these are the skill sets necessary for the third area of literacy, which is scientific literacy,” Professor Lewis said.

Professor Lewis argued that Marcus Garvey could be described as a “Polymath”-someone with a wide range of skill sets, from academics to technical areas.

He said  Mr. Garvey was such a brilliant scholar that he was able to leave school at age 14 and although he was literate and numerate, he was also motivated to self study, a trait which can do the education system in Jamaica a world of good at this time.

“Jamaica has to reach a point where our children, when they leave school, have the relevant skill sets. We have to liberate ourselves from the damage done to our minds and to our sense of self. We have to unlearn ideas of inferiority, weak self confidence and the absence of self respect,” he emphasised.