Vauxhall High School student Leslie Martin makes a recommendation at the National Roundtable Consultations on Education on Friday.
-Ricardo Makyn photo
Klao Bell, Education Editor
WERE THIS a sporting event, the students from some 30 schools who spent the day huddled in mature exchange of ideas and opinions at the National Roundtable Consultations on Education, might have been engaged in spirited rivalry.
Instead, about 180 students from primary, secondary and tertiary schools across the island, channelled their energy towards arriving at a consensus on key changes that must occur in the education sector over the next decade.
The students were asked to imagine they were in the year 2014 and that they, as Secretary General of the United Nations Education and Scientific Orga-nisation (UNESCO), were to award Jamaica for being the top-performing country in education. They were asked individually to list five of the most important changes that must take place in order to help Jamaica achieve this status.
By the end of the workshop, the various views had been condensed into specific objectives, the content of which impressed the adults present.
HOPES FOR THE FUTURE
The students said by 2014 education in Jamaica should be: "The impetus to societal development", "excellent and self-sustaining", "equal and available to all", "free at all levels" and "recognised globally". They also said Jamaica should be a "100 per cent literateand numerate society" and that education should contribute to the "holistic development of the individual."
High-level discussions took place at tables throughout the forum. At one table occupied by seven boys and one girl from Vauxhall Secondary School in Kingston and Knockalva Technical High School in Hanover, students grappled with whether teachers should be penalised if students perform poorly.
At another table, students pondered the possibility of free education.
"It's impossible, we can't afford it," one boy said.
THE CUBAN MODEL
"From I was little I have been hearing that we can't afford this and we can't afford that, how come Cuba is not a First World country and they can afford free education?" another boy responded.
"That's because Cuba is a united country and we're not," countered the first boy.
At this point a female tertiary school student at the table chimed in, "Remember we are to pretend this is 2014, not now in 2004."
The first boy asked, "Do you think Jamaica would be united by 2014?"
At this the second boy mused, "Wow, you can imagine if Jamaica was to be united by then?"
Seventeen-year-old Kimauni Smith of the Kingston Technical High School said he was pleased with the outcome of the forum.
"I came to hear what the Ministry (of Education) had to say and to see if they were aware of what we are experiencing in the system. From what I have seen it is clear that they know what we face in our schools," said Kimauni, one of approximately 60 boys at the forum.
Maxine Henry-Wilson, Minister of Education, was impressed with the students' input.
"They were more future-oriented than other groups (of mainly adults) who have participated in the consultation. They had unique ideas as well, such as winning the Nobel Prize."
The roundtable discussions were held at the Altamont Court Hotel, St. Andrew, on Friday.
