The best capital a country can have is human capital. Currently, a lot of changes are happening globally which will impact Jamaica, there are challenges as well as opportunities that we can capitalize on if the system is in place for the youth to do so.
In 2022, just a little more than 50% of the students who took the CSEC exams passed with more than 5 subjects, the score came in at 53.05 percent. Furthermore, the percentage of students who pass with 5 or more subjects which includes English A and Mathematics came in at 43.66 percent.
I am of the assumption that we have underachieved when it comes to education. I am wondering if the government can’t fix this issue or doesn’t want to fix the issue.
What makes these numbers appalling is the fact that CESC is not that hard from an objective point of view. It’s hard to not blame the government and the abysmal performance of those steering the ship in the education sector.
In order for Jamaica to elevate and create high-achieving professionals who are contributing to society in a meaningful way we need to reform our education system.
To further address the point of underachievement in our education system, you can simply look at the resources that are currently available at the fingertips of these kids today.
The power of technology is immense, if we can harness this power the right way and take advantage of the educational resources available, the possibilities are endless.
It’s time we invest in our education system, I doubt we have many excuses anymore, this level of stagnation shouldn’t be condoned anymore, especially given the fact that eastern nations are not rising up and making a name for themselves on the global stage.
Nations that we were ahead of a couple of decades ago are out-competing us across different sectors whether it be technology, medicine, engineering, etc.
We have to ensure that we do not descend into the abyss, if we are to change it wouldn’t be a one-year change or even a decade, it will take upwards of 3-5 decades and more.
We will have to ensure that regardless of how the power structure changes, these core principles and strategies will not be altered much. We have to make the necessary changes now or 50 years from now we will be in the same deplorable situation we are in with our current education system.
