Trench Town residents charged to value learning opportunities
Published:Wednesday | September 13, 2017 | 12:00 AMChristopher Serju
Dr Omar Davies, retired member of parliament for St Andrew Southern, on Wednesday reminded his former constituents of their obligation to take seriously the responsibility of educating their children.
"The opportunities which are being presented by the polytechnic must be grasped. The education of your children is not Government's responsibility .... you have to play a pivotal role," the former minister of finance said at the media launch of the Trench Town Polytechnic College, which is operated on the campus of the former Trench Town High School on Eighth Street.
"We want the students of South St Andrew to grasp every opportunity," Davies said as he pleaded with residents of the community to support Jamaica's first polytechnic tertiary level institution.
Lamenting the outcome of what he described as an initially "amazing situation" at the Boys' Town HEART TRUST/NTA Academy in the constituency, Davies charged Trench Town residents not to allow a replication of the situation in their community. He pointed out that despite the overwhelming need for skills training in the area, most of the students there were from outside the parish.
CHALLENGE TO PARENTS
"They are from May Pen, they are from St Thomas, they are from all over. Only a small percentage of them are from the community. This must not happen with Trench Town Polytechnic," he insisted.
Parents were challenged to also look into accessing the skills-training opportunities themselves, so that along with their children, they could either get a job or create one for themselves.
In endorsing the need for everyone to tap into the many opportunities for self-empowerment, through education and training, Education Minister Ruel Reid warned that where the State provided these opportunities, Jamaicans should recognise that there are no free lunches. Hence they should grasp the opportunities for learning.