Errol Miller

 The last three months have been almost totally preoccupied with political and financial matters. First, it was all about the bail-outs, then the debate about the electoral system followed by the spectacle of the elections themselves and the announcement and formation of the new government. In these circumstances, it is not hard to miss some of the more constructive and long-term actions that are being taken by people without any prompting from the government or corporate leaders. Continue reading →

Errol Miller

 During the recent election campaign, all three major parties placed education as the top priority in their manifestos. To all educators, and to the electorate as a whole, this was a welcome sign. Such recognition of the importance of education to our future by the major contenders gave hope that whoever won, the support for education would be assured. Continue reading →

Errol Miller

January 29, 1997.

Recently Dr. Rae Davis, President of the University of Technology, made reference to the UNESCO Education Index monitoring progress towards Education For All by the year 2000 and noted that Jamaica ranked number one among the 87 developing countries included in the survey. Since then both Mrs. Hyacinth Bennett, distinguished educator and NDM spokesperson on education, and Dr. Val Chambers writing in SPUNK a community newspaper published in Manchester have taken Dr. Davis and UNESCO to task with respect to Jamaica’s favourable rating. Being familiar with the UNESCO Index and having read both comments it is hard to refrain from attempting to throw some light on the subject. Continue reading →