State Minister says Education is Key to Sustainable Development

Minister of State in the Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture, Dr. Donald Rhodd, has said that education was the vehicle that would transform the country and place it on a sustainable path to development. He suggested that a sustained campaign and programme be adopted to declare 2004 a national year of education.
“I would like to submit that we need a national crusade, where every Jamaican is targeted to be a part of a wholesale education revolution in our country. I submit that we need a national year of education,” he emphasised.
Continuing, the State Minister observed that, “we have teacher’s day, we have student’s day, child’s month, youth month, community development month, but education needs more than a day or a month, it needs a whole year to begin,” he stated.
Dr. Rhodd was giving the keynote address at the Eduvision 2003, banquet and awards ceremony, held late last week at the Wyndham Rose Hall Resort and Country Club, in Montego Bay.
Dr. Rhodd asserted that the future success of the country was linked in every way to education, adding that, “we must as a nation find ways and means to finance all the required educational programmes.”
He said that in doing all of this, the country should recognise the role, value and importance of our teachers, and ensure that they are properly remunerated.
“We must give them the tools, equipment, and environment to perform to the best of their abilities, and on the other hand, we must demand of them results consistent with the needs of our society in this ever changing global environment,” he added.
Minister Rhodd called for a programme, which would involve every agency of government, the private sector, civil society, the church, teachers and all the professional groups.
At the ceremony three persons and two organisations were recognised for their contributions to education. Those honoured were Professor Errol Miller, Dr. Ruby King, Senator Burchell Whiteman, the Education Reform Unit of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and the International Development Bank.