Gleaner Columns

 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.

 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.

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.