Tweak education system - Crawford

WESTERN BUREAU:

Opposition Senator Damion Crawford is of the view that Jamaica will be in serious trouble over the next 30 years if the education system is not adequately tweaked to engage the minds of the current generation of children.

Crawford, who was delivering the keynote address at the Kiwanis Club of Providence's 33rd installation and awards ceremony in Montego Bay on Sunday.

"So, therefore, me a say to you, if the people are not sufficiently educated that we can be mentally competitive, we are going to be in trouble in the next 30 years," said Crawford. "I have seen the future of Jamaica and it starts with making sure that between zero and 30, we save that generation and so we want to target from zero to 29 to say these five things will make our people independent."

"The first thing that will make them independent is education," said Crawford. "We want by the age of 30, Jamaicans should have a degree or similar to a degree because sometimes you say degree, a man doesn't realise that a Level 4 in HEART/NTA (training) is regarded as a degree, so sometimes you say degree and they think it is university alone we a talk."

Crawford said one of the corrective systems that would prevent what currently exists in the education sector is to extend the number of years for students to attend secondary school.

"We need the Kiwanis with your influence and your income to lobby for a seven-year secondary school system because we have a five-year secondary system and that five-year system don't facilitate a youth who come in and should be in remedial first form because him not ready for the first form," stated Crawford.