MBCC principal renews call for greater promotion of tertiary education

WESTERN BUREAU:

Dr Darien Henry, the principal of the St James-based Montego Bay Community College (MBCC), is renewing calls for greater focus on preparing students for tertiary education, a move he says will strengthen school-leavers’ readiness for the workforce and, in turn, improve Jamaica’s labour market productivity.

Henry made the call on Wednesday while addressing the Institute of Vocational Education and Skills Training Limited’s (INVEST) graduation ceremony at the Mt Salem Seventh-day Adventist Church in Montego Bay, St James, where 47 students were graduating from a training programme with the TUI Care Foundation for readiness to enter sectors such as hospitality and tourism.

“Currently, only about 15 per cent of Jamaica’s workforce holds tertiary-level education. Last year, in 2025, 28,000 students sat Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, but only around 6,000 students passed with five or more subjects, and just under half of that passed mathematics,” said Henry.

“These figures highlight the urgency of strengthening our transition from secondary education into technical and post-secondary pathways like the TUI Foundation. If productivity is to increase in our country, competence must also increase,” Henry added. “That requires deliberate investment in our high schools, community colleges, polytechnics, and teacher preparation institutions. It requires modernising our school laboratories, updating the equipment, strengthening industry partnerships, and ensuring that instructors remain current in this technological age.”

Henry pointed to contrasting figures concerning tertiary education engagement in the Caribbean region versus international territories like the United Kingdom.

“In the Caribbean, including Jamaica, only two out of every 10 students leave secondary school and move on to tertiary. In countries like the United Kingdom, approximately seven to eight out of every 10 students advance beyond post-secondary education. Our challenge is not over-qualification; it is an under-participation problem,” said Henry.

“To strengthen competitiveness, we must increase access to post-secondary education initiatives – both in technical and academic pathways. Higher-order competencies such as critical thinking, emotional intelligence, working in teams and groups, and collaboration across cultures, are not abstract ideals; they are requirements of the twenty-first-century workforce.”

The MBCC principal had previously expressed concerns last June about the low participation of Jamaican students in post-secondary education, particularly boys. Two months prior to that, the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information released a bulletin urging tertiary-level students to make use of funding available under the Tertiary Students Assistance Programme for the 2025 academic year.

Henry also told Wednesday’s function that there is a misalignment between Jamaica’s training mechanisms and the demands of the labour force that must be resolved if the country is to become prosperous.

“We frequently hear two concerns expressed at the same time. Some employers are reporting difficulty finding skilled workers, and young people report difficulty finding jobs. In some sense, both are true, but it reflects, in large measure, a structural mismatch – a misalignment between our training systems and labour market demands,” said Henry.

“Structural mismatch is costly. It affects productivity, it affects wages, it affects household stability and, over time, it affects our country’s competitiveness,” Henry continued. “Declining birth rates means that fewer young people will enter the workforce over time. I want to tell the Government of Jamaica that quantity alone will not secure competitiveness, but quality of life will, and this requires thoughtful policy, because affordable childcare enables parents to remain economically active, and strong early childhood education builds literacy and numeracy foundations.”

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com