Education is the Greatest Force for Positive Social Change and Upward Mobility – PM Holness
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has encouraged parents and students to embrace the new primary student assessment, the Primary Exit Profile (PEP).
The results of the first cohort of students who sat the PEP exam were released earlier this month.
Speaking at the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for Service to Education ceremony held at the North Lawn of Jamaica House last night (June 26), the Prime Minister said (PEP) provides students with the platform for innovation and out of the box thinking required to re-engineer the education system and create a new Jamaica.
“Following the recent release of the PEP exam, the Primary Exit Profile results, let me take the opportunity to again emphasize that PEP is part of the creation of a new type of Jamaica. One where a person applies critical thinking and the process of investigation and discovery is used in the solution to problems. Life chances are no longer being determined by grades achieved in two days of examination to determine your fate.” said Prime Minister Holness.
According to the Prime Minister, education has been and continues to be the greatest force for positive social change and upward mobility.
“I am happy that more students than ever have access to better equipped and better-resourced classrooms. I am confident that with our increased focus on early childhood and helping the institution to raise their standards of operations, we are laying a stronger foundation for future generations to excel,” stated the Prime Minister.
The Medal of Appreciation Awards is an annual event. This year, 40 educators from across the island were honoured for more than over 15 years of service to education from the early childhood to the post-secondary level.
Prime Minister Holness applauded the honourees for the nurturing role they played in shaping the society by responding earnestly to their calling to service and embracing the idea that each generation has a responsibility to help the next in building this country.
“Education prepares our children for life, for work and for citizenship Amid the rapid societal changes our approaches programmes and area of emphasis must keep pace to be relevant to contemporary society and to the future this involves creating an encouraging and nourishing environment that allows for creativity and for the enquiring and curious mind to explore new ways of doing familiar things. It involves transforming persons from being consumers of technology to being creators of technology” said Prime Minister Holness.
He said the Government remains committed to providing the best education for Jamaicans.
“The government remains steadfast in its commitment to give our children the best quality education under the best conditions to meet their own self-actualization, as well as to the advancement of our society.”