Henriques pledges to keep Edwin Allen legacy alive

Clarendon North Western Member of Parliament Phillip Henriques is vowing to keep the legacy of the late Edwin Allen, former MP for the constituency alive.

In his State of Constituency Debate in Parliament on Wednesday, Henriques noted that he intends to build on the legacy of his predecessor as he highlighted some of what Allen accomplished during his three terms as minister of education.

Describing Allen as a man of vision, he said he was one of the most important pillars in the alleviation of poverty.

“One of the most important things he did was to take advantage of opportunities to create wealth and drive development. Edwin Allen understood the importance of education so much so that to date, Clarendon North Western has 29 government schools within its borders and 23 primary schools,” he highlighted.

Stressing the importance of keeping Allen’s legacy alive, Henriques said the school named in his honour has not been excluded from the trend of improvements across the constituency.

BENEFICIARY

The school, he noted, has recently been the beneficiary of six new classrooms and has been gifted with a new dormitory for the girls’ track team to house 80 student-athletes.

“I intend to maintain and build on the legacy of Edwin Allen,” he said, sharing that two new state-of-the-art early childhood institutions have been constructed in conjunction with the CHASE (Culture Health, Arts, Sports, and Education) Fund – one that is attached to the Kilsyth Primary School in the Frankfield division and the other the Victoria Primary School in the Thompson Town division.”

Both schools, he said, are 90 per cent complete and are built to the early childhood commission standards and will receive full certification standards once operational.

Edwin Leopold Allen represented the Jamaica Labour Party in the 1950 by-election. In 1953 he was appointed Minister of Education and served until 1955. From 1962 to 1972, he continued his service in that capacity, becoming the first and longest-serving minister of education of independent Jamaica.