Delivering his inaugural address after being installed as the 45th president of the JTA this week in Ocho Rios, Stewart said a national consensus was needed on the following:

Equity and equality of education opportunities for all

Proper funding of the education system

Safety and security as a matter of priority in all schools

Proper nutrition programme in all our schools

Proper transportation system for students.

"No longer should students be faced with travelling through the middle passage, listening to daggering music and watching x-rated dvds," Stewart said.

He also called for the reintroduction of civics as a subject to engender patriotism and good moral values, and said schools should become the target of transmission for good moral values.

Stewart said other agents of socialisation must become an integral part of that core with a vision to rescue the society.

He also called for the matter of compulsory education to be revisited if Jamaica is to conquer what he says is the monster of illiteracy.