This is Education Week and those responsible for mounting the set of celebratory activities are once again to be commended. Education plays such a central role in a country's political and social stability, development and sustainability that it must be focused on year-long, but given special highlight for at least one week in the year. In this connection the first full week in May has now been recognised as that week. The month itself is significant enough for it is when we observe Child Month and Mother's Day. Of course, the child must be the prime focus of an education system and the mother is the very first teacher of the child in that system. Cheers therefore to teachers, students, education officers and parents as we reflect on Education Week!

Several issues come to the fore. Some of them are new but some are familiar ones which will not go away. One issue is education for whom and for what? The question is by no means rhetorical or even of interest only to a few. It is a question or issue that must be constantly raised in the society, and more important, addressed. For my part, education must be for all, for self and for national development. At this juncture, there must be an order of priority in terms of its dimensions, however.

Before we consider the order, we must consider three broad dimensions of education. These are social, academic and vocational. Academic and vocational education are perhaps well defined but social education is not, yet may be inferred and construed as education having to do with knowledge, understanding and practice of civil and social behaviour. The distinction between the three is not clear-cut and may be debated. The fact is, however, that some people are relatively strong in academic and vocational education, but relatively weak in social education while others are relatively strong in social education but weak in the other dimensions. A few show all-round strengths.

Regarding social education, parents and other adults in the community, teachers and students, in that order, would be my focus. Students spend most of their time, an average of between 133 and 143 hours per week with parents and other adults at home and in the community, including church. The influence from these adults can be considerable. If they develop and practise many key social skills, competencies and attitudes acquired in social education, then it is most likely that students will learn, practise and have reinforced what they learn from their elders.
Of the 168 hours in a week, students normally spend only between 25 and 35 hours with other students and teachers at school, a much smaller period than that which they spend with adults at home and in the community. Although teachers interact with students for a shorter period than students interact with other adults, their influence on students is potentially very strong. This suggests that teachers should develop much competence in social education so that they can influence students in that direction.
The fact is that social education involving the disposition to working with others, having a positive concept of self, being positively motivated with relative ease, being both an independent and a cooperative learner, being tolerant, being fair and honest in social interactions as well as being self-motivated is a firm foundation for academic education. As argued by many development theorists and others, social education taught mainly by adults is fundamental to all education and should be a prime focus of an education system.

So Education Week can fruitfully address this all-important dimension of education. It seems to me that it is critical that we regard social education as not simply something that is desirable but as indispensable in education for all. It goes beyond the school curriculum which embeds many aspects of social education. It must be addressed in youth clubs, in the churches, in service clubs and in schools in a coordinated way and well beyond how it is conceived by many leaders.

The decline in social education is seen in the increasingly high levels of crime and violence being experienced today and the issue must be confronted not only by the education system but by all sectors of the society. I would advise the education authorities not to consider the crime situation even in schools as an indictment only on the education system but an indictment on the entire society. The response must be to seek support from all major social institutions in mounting a nationally developed, implemented and coordinated programme directed at positive "civil behaviour". Up until now it is only the school curriculum that is vigorously being asked to address the problem.

In terms of academic and vocational education, the entire population should be engaged in either or both for work, continued employment, new skills, exercise of the brain and generally for self-improvement. In this respect a fully coordinated programme of life-long learning should be nationally planned and implemented by various means.

"In-depth Report on Primary Education in Jamaica" 1974 as cited in an earlier article, made many sound recommendations to address prevailing conditions in the education system then. Many of the conditions still remain and the recommendations are therefore still valid. By way of recapitulation, I quote one of the recommendations reported last time. "That the Ministry of Education make a complete, if rough, projection of a desirable education service and cost it, so that the public may obtain a clearer idea of the magnitude of the problem". The recommendation was acted upon only in 2004. The major issues remain the funding for the reform and whether in fact all elements of it should be pursued in the present form. I argue strongly for a review.

Another recommendation that is still relevant is: "That urgent consideration be given to limiting the enrolment of schools to some optimum size to be decided upon and if necessary to 'fission' some of the larger ones at present in the system or where feasible introduce a system of zoning." The supply of quality school places has lagged so significantly behind demand that to implement this recommendation 30 years after it was made would require nothing short of an unprecedented funding project to provide quality school places accessible to all students. This is a precondition for zoning. Will the election manifestos speak?

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