JTA head renews call for reintroduction of civics into schools

The Ministry of Education is being urged, yet again, to reintroduce the teaching of civics in schools.

The call was made by the president of the Jamaica Teachers' Association (JTA), Winston Smith during a virtual presentation at a meeting of the Lions Club of Kingston on Wednesday night.

Pledges to have civics brought back into schools have gone unfulfilled.

Smith described its removal from the national curriculum as a grave and fundamental error.

"Some genius along the line figured that civic education is not important. 'Let us remove it out of the curriculum' so [it] was removed...and what do we have today? we have a society that is almost at a point of self-destruction," Smith argued.

He charged that since then schools have seen a rise in catastrophes in which students show little to no respect for their institutions or display discipline.

Arguing that some parents too are indiscipline, the JTA head said that they continue to contribute to a system that tells children that “it's not about the tightness of your pants learning [and] is not hair learning."

Smith, however, argued that this narrative will only “perpetuate indiscipline in our society.”

Over the years, there have been public outcries against schools which have turned away students over grooming, particularly hairstyles.

In pushing back, institutions have argued that they have set their rules and that students must follow them.

Smith argued that the JTA continues its efforts to promote order and decency in the society and encouraged Jamaicans not to dismiss the organisation as “obstructionists” but to comprehensively listen to its reasoning.

- Asha Wilks

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