Prime Minister Andrew Holness says poor students should be positioned to benefit from the best education. This will help them to break the cycle of poverty. The PM gave a commitment to build schools that will operate at the highest standards for students no matter their social background.

Holness: Ja has to become a republic

11 Dec 2021/Christopher Serju

Prime Minister Andrew Holness greets students of Christel House Jamaica in Twickenham Park, St Catherine, during a visit to one of the classrooms during the official opening ceremony on Friday. Education Minister Fayval Williams (second right) and Principal Tracey Ann Anderson follow behind him.

“THERE I S no question that Jamaica has to become a republic.”

That definitive declaration was made by Prime Minister Andrew yesterday, while delivering the keynote address during the official opening ceremony at Christel House Jamaica in Twickenham Park, St Catherine.

“Who is arguing that point?” Holness continued in what appeared to be a break from his prepared text. “People who have argued that point should have done it 20, 30, 40 years ago. We have put together a plan to move towards that in such a way that when we do it, it is a meaningful, substantial transformation in function and firm. That is what we are going to do.”

Master of ceremonies Vivien Morris had blundered in introducing Holness as the head of State, but as soon as he took the microphone, the prime minister immediately clarified that he was the head of Government and not the head of State.

“There is a major debate going on now about the status of Jamaica. So it is very important that we get these facts correct, lest I be accused of assuming unto myself an office that I do not have,” Holness said.

Calls have intensified for Jamaica to remove Queen Elizabeth as its titular head of State as well as the United Kingdom-based Privy Council as its final court of appeal, especially in the wake of regional neighbour Barbados becoming a republic just days ago.

Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson has numbered among those urging Holness and Opposition Leader Mark Golding to take steps towards doing likewise in time for the celebration of Jamaica’s Diamond Jubilee next August.

Yesterday, Holness also implored Jamaicans to keep faith in the country, citing what he deemed steady progress being made in the face of serious challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have gone through a pandemic, the worst we have had in 100 years. Jamaica, unlike most other countries in the region, we have remained very strong and very stable in our economic base. Now we must keep that focus,” he said.

Earlier, Holness had argued for fundamental changes in Jamaica’s centuries-old education philosophy, which has fed generational inequalities with the top-performing students always going to the best schools.

PLACE AT THE TABLE

A former education minister himself, he insisted that a way must be found to ensure that students who were not equipped with the educational skills or certain social graces because of their poor economic background be given a place at the table of life.

This is consistent with the philosophy of Christel DeHaan, the late founder of Christel House International, which has also established schools in India, Mexico, South Africa and the United States.

“In this school, you are not selecting the students by virtue of the best grades, so this school will add greater value than any other school,” Holness told Christel House Jamaica executives and administrators.

Students are instead selected from the very poorest households in and around Spanish Town based on how near to the school they live, their stark household needs, and the stability of their location.

“Can you imagine where we are not taking the brightest students and putting them in the best schools? Could you imagine that that is what is going to break the inequalities in the society? You need to get the students from the poorest communities, from the poorest households into the best schools, so they can be exposed to the best teachers and the best facilities,” the prime minister said.

He also highlighted what he called the “virtuous cycle”, whereby alumni associations tend to focus exclusively on the development of their alma maters by investing in them so the institutions can continue to turn out students who do well and in return reinvest in the school.

“The challenge that we face is how do we get the students who are not going to get the best grades – because they are not coming from the household with the income that will ensure that they get the time and attention and care – to get to the best schools,” he admitted.

The prime minister gave his commitment to build seven schools to be operated under the highest standards, where the objective would be to expose students to technology, not as consumers but rather as creators, in the effort to place Jamaica firmly on the pathway of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

“They will produce students who, regardless of where they come from, will understand what it means to be proud independent, law-abiding citizens of Jamaica,” he said, although he did not offer a timeline for the completion of these schools or disclose prospective locations.

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