Greetings from the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Service of the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica

Salutations

It is quite a pleasurable task to represent the JFLL this morning as we partner with the Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica, along with colleagues in the government service, private sector interests and the host family of Anglicans here at the Church of Reconciliation.

As we seek to embark on another school year, we think it is quite timely to remind us all that it will take all hands on deck to ensure that it will be a successful one.

I know we can agree on some basics – parents to ensure that children are materially and emotionally ready… teachers and administrators to provide the best possible learning environment…Communities jealously guarding learning facilities with a protective eye on the security of life and property.

Guided by the proliferation of ‘one-another’ scriptures, the Christian church has made a great impact on education as part of its social development agenda – operating schools, material spiritual and ethical guidance among other things. So we are all partners…and in many ways, family.

However in the misguided belief that (apart from children and academics) we can ‘out’ school, as we did in the old days is dangerous. In the current realities of the global village, this is a recipe for disaster… we must constantly learn, un-learn, re-orient and learn some more, to be empowered to LIVE and not just exist.

National hero, The Rt. Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey
reminds us that this includes the informal and non-formal:

”Many a man was educated outside the school room. It is something you let out, not completely take in. You are part of it, for it is natural; it is dormant simply because you will not develop it, but God creates every man with it knowingly or unknowingly to him who possesses it—that's the difference. Develop yours and you become as great and full of knowledge even entering the class room."

Now more than ever, in the face of the current global recession, ongoing education is indispensable…Listen….

In the 2005 Global Competitiveness Report of the World Economic Forum, Jamaica was ranked 63 out of 117 countries. This is not unrelated to the unacceptable rate of functional illiteracy.  Many are limited to basic word recog-nition and computation skills though not totally illiterate.

As far back as 1997 A KPMG Peat Marwick ‘Survey  of the impact of Illiteracy on Productivity in Commerce and Industry’ estimated the direct cost to business of illiteracy in Jamaica at approximately J3.9 Billion or 2.4% of GDP.

The startlingly low ranking of our nation which has the grit and gumption to beat the world in grueling and unforgiving endeavours such as sports and science must be addressed.

We believe God has already granted us what we need, but we must embrace and use it. Knowledge is power, the power to do, the power to change, the power to transform.  
At the JFLL after leading more than two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) Jamaicans into the light of basic literacy in 35 years, we have a higher vision for our Jamaica. We see:

“An educated, knowledge-based adult population empowered through lifelong learning opportunities to take responsibility for their lives and contribute positively to the social, moral and economic development of the country”

It will take sustained collective action to give Jamaica this ‘Fresh Start’. The spirit of volunteerism which empowered our antecedent, JAMAL to take a 45% literacy rate and move it to 80% in less than a generation…must be rekindled.

As we join the rest of the world this Tuesday September 8 to observe UNESCO’s International Literacy Day, let us think about our collective future and ‘The Power of Literacy’ in helping us to secure it.

• Make a personal commitment to learn something new every day.
• Decide to start a literacy and numeracy class in your church, community or workplace
• Volunteer to serve as a teacher or mentor to someone who needs the support.

 

Whereas we know that there are many challenges to overcome in the formal system of education, let us not forget that it is above all a social issue, a human rights issue, a heart issue, a spiritual ‘one-another’ issue.

I close with the words of the late visionary human rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

"Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. . . . We must remember that intelligence is not enough…Intelligence plus character -- that is the goal of true education."

Then and only then will we succeed in our collective mission of ‘Changing Lives Forever’.

Delivered by Gerrard L. McDaniel
Public Relations and Marketing Manager
Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning