JFLL head challenges local leaders to ‘Think Literacy’ for greater economic returns
Executive Director of the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL) Dr. Alison Cross yesterday challenged captains of industry and social leaders to move concerns about Jamaica’s lagging literacy rate from the periphery to the centre of deliberations about productivity and prosperity. Addressing the weekly luncheon meeting of the Rotary Club of St. Andrew at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, Dr. Cross opined:
“For too long adult and youth education has been an “add-on” to our educational landscape. A “band aid” to a big problem…..a problem of a large cohort of youth and adults who have challenges reading, writing, computing, reasoning critically or contributing meaningfully to their own progress in life…to their immediate family, their community …their country.’
Citing several local and international sources, the career educator reminded the audience of the stark realities of the emerging Jamaican labour market:
“There are 127,000 unattached youth in the age range 16-24 years, more than 75 % of whom need remedial education…they are not in school, not employed and not actively engaged in any productive activity - Where are they- what are they currently doing? - If we can’t motivate them to get on board….what real options do they nave…what do you think they will end up doing?”
Emphasizing that those who are currently employed have been drawn from the same demographic pool, Dr. Cross sought to make a direct link with the daily concerns of business and in particular those elements that have stymied Jamaica’s sluggish economy:
“The next time you have an industrial relations issue, or safety issue, or a lack of productive growth…think literacy. It is much more than the ability to negotiate basic words and numbers. The basic education bar rests at the high school level.
Carrying the key message of the just-concluded 6th UNESCO International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI) in Brazil, ‘From Rhetoric to Action’, the Jamaican delegate invited her audience of powerful leaders not to simply receive and agree with the points raised in her speech, but to be proactive as of the start of business tomorrow:
“You need to have a better understanding of the relevance of learning and literacy to those in your organizations who are not fully productive – simply because of literacy issues. We need to fully appreciate that by investing in literacy, there’s a greater chance of success in each employees respective area or areas… of responsibility”.
Reinforcing the central theme of her presentation, Dr. Cross capped her stint at the podium with a quotation from slain American President John F. Kennedy:
“Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us .there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”
Dr. Alison Cross was appointed head of the JFLL last summer and has been at the helm of the national non-formal adult education agency since September 14. She succeeds Mr. Edward Shakes, who is now Principal of G.C. Foster College in St. Catherine.
