Ruel Reid has failed education test
Published:Tuesday | August 7, 2018 | 12:00 AM
THE EDITOR, Sir:
I humbly ask that the prime minister send Senator Ruel Reid, minister of education, youth and information, to the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Education is in shambles. After two years, Reid has made no impact on improving education in Jamaica. He profiles a great deal, but does very little else. All he seems to do is profile. Reid is living off of the work done by Ronnie Thwaites and Andrew Holness.
Education is the biggest and most important ministry in this country. Besides finance and the public service, it has the biggest budget, yet 70 per cent of the youth are unskilled. What is going on at HEART and the National Youth Service? Why are so many young people all over the country just walking aimlessly about. Many of them have four or five subjects - some CAPE passes.
The resources being pumped into education seem to be going into big salaries. The youth are crying out for help. We are not feeling the impact of Reid at the ministry. Help! Please, Prime Minister, help. It seems Reid is too busy trying to win a seat in Western St Ann to manage the Ministry of Education.
Urgent attention is needed to deal with the mass failures coming out of education. How can it be that after so many billions are pumped into education, only 25 per cent of the students who graduated last year passed five subjects, including maths and English? Yet Reid wants us to believe that PEP is a magic pill that will solve all problems.
The real problem is the apartheid education system that we have. If when you leave primary school, you do not get into one of the traditional high schools,
your chances of gaining academic success are diminished significantly. Why is Reid not addressing all these issues? All he seems interested in is public relations.
Reid has done such a bad job, it is a disgrace. Send him from education to science and technology. Maybe he can do something worthwhile there.
P. MIGHTY