Minister of Education, Dr. Nyan Gadsby Dolly believes more focus needs to be placed on the children in the country’s non prestigious schools if we are to avoid our society sinking further into social decay.
Of the country’s more than one hundred secondary schools, two thirds do not fall into the prestige category.
The statistic given by Minister of Education, Dr. Nyan Gadsby-Dolly as she addressed the Ministry’s Re-Engaging For Success awards ceremony on Friday
“Our problem lies in the fact that we have a cohort of citizens that we have to do better for at the start of their lives so that they don’t come out at the end to depend on social grants. So they don’t come out at the end where we have to spend the money to take care of them in our prison.”
The Education Minister noted many students have learning disabilities, come from homes that are not ideal, or live in communities where they have no good role models.
“When we are spending over five billion a year in education but we are spending like quantities in social development, in Ministry of National Security and in the Ministry of Health. Then we must recognize that we have a problem.”
But Minister Gadsby Dolly said all is not lost… as she urged that students be engaged at every level of the education system.
“What is more critical is to understand what the challenges are and to put the resources in to help to get the improvement that we need. And when our schools are making the effort, when our principals are trying their best, their teachers, when their trying to corral parental support, when their trying to reach out to children who have no role models in their home or communities.”
Awards were presented for most transformed, school improvement strategies, contributions to the iEAT programme, excellence at the CSEC and CAPE examinations as well as excelling as cultural ambassadors.