MoBay needs more schools that cater to boys’ needs – Thwaites

WESTERN BUREAU:

MONTEGO BAY has a history of excellent education, says former minister of education, Ronald Thwaites, but the number of institutions in the area that cater in particular to the needs of boys are inadequate..

He was addressing the start of in-person classes at the city’s second all-boys institution on Monday.

Two years after it started online classes, the Monsignor Gladstone Wilson College, a Catholic-run high school, swung its doors open, offering face-to-face classes next door to the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Montego Bay, St James.

The school has been twinned with Campion College in Kingston, which will also offer virtual lessons, and Mt Alvernia High, its closest neighbour, who will allow classroom accessibility where necessary. Some 30 boys are enrolled in seventh, eighth and 11th grades.

“The curriculum mirrors that of the best Catholic high schools, while emphasising discipline and Christian living,” Thwaites said.

The intention is not to make everybody Catholic, but to inculcate good habits, assured Deacon Thwaites, who has responsibility for Catholic education in Jamaica.

“What we do say is that the spirit of generosity, the living for others, the care of the vulnerable, the respect for God’s creation, this is the essence of the Christian message in the Beatitudes, and that’s what we’re going to inculcate for them and they must agree to that and they must participate with this,” he told The Gleaner.

Optimistic about the future, he noted that institutions make and improve culture, and the island’s schools are major institutions.

“And I think that this is one contribution that is of great value for the future,” Thwaites said.

He argued that Jamaica needs to be appreciative of the strides that have been made in education. Close to 300,000 students all over the country are enrolled in some phase of high school from grade seven to grade 13, he revealed, as he retraced the history of Jamaica’s independence 61 years ago, when the figure stood at 10,000.

“Every child from age three to age 18 has a place in school. We need to give thanks. Give thanks to the taxpayers, and give credit to the governments, churches and other agencies that have brought this about,” Thwaites stressed.

In the case of the Montego Bay all-boys institution, he credited Dr Horace Chang, minister of national security and member of parliament for St James North West, and his wife Paulette, an educator, who both also felt there was a need for such an institution.

“Mrs Chang has always felt that boys needed special attention and Dr Chang and I reasoned about the need for boys’ education in Montego Bay. And we came up with the idea of the all-boys institution,” Thwaites explained.

Boys, he says, learn at a different pace than girls, and many times, for that reason and for other reasons, boys see no merit in education, and they get deflected.

“And we know what kind of social problem, what kind of familial problem that causes,” he cautioned.

Originally, he admitted that they had hoped that Government would have joined with the church at the outset, and sent students there for sixth form, as well as some grant-in-aided students for seventh grade, but that was not done.

He is, however, not disillusioned, reasoning that the churches in Jamaica own or sponsor almost half of all of the public education institutions.

The Catholic Church has about 120 schools at all levels from tertiary to early childhood and the Anglicans and the United Church have even more.

AMAZING OPPORTUNITY

The Monsignor Gladstone Wilson College has former Vice Principal of St George’s College, Dave Soares, as its principal and Deacon Dr Selbourne Hemmings as chairman.

Soares, speaking with The Gleaner on Monday morning, said that what they are trying to replicate is the learning environment not only about academics, but also about social education, to make the boys better citizens.

Students pay a minimum fee of $81,000 per year, and the rest is subsidised by the Catholic diocese in Toronto.

Shernette Crichton, a parent whose 12-year-old son has special skills, said he needs smaller classes to grow. She believes his talents will be recognised, that he learns differently, and he is more practical/skills based.

“He will solve a rubics cube in two minutes or less, he builds puzzles and I hope this institution will draw those gifts and talents so that he can contribute positively,” she said.

One of the students, Richando Gordon, said he was disappointed that he hadn’t gotten a chance to attend the school he passed for, but he still considers Monsignor Gladstone Wilson College an amazing opportunity in terms of his education.

“I think this school will change my life. Less students, more attention. The school is amazing,” he stated.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com