THE Jamaica Observer is to expand its education thrust with the launch of a three-part television show next March, to help students prepare for Mathematics and English A at the CXC level.

“In March 2008, it is our intention to not only have our CXC workshop as we have for the past two years, but also to commence the three-part television show,” said Ed Khoury, the company’s CEO.

In a speech delivered on his behalf by Marlon Davis, the Observer’s head of marketing and communications, at the annual teachers’ awards for the western region in Negril last Thursday, Khoury expressed confidence that the company, in collaboration with the various stakeholders in the education sector, could achieve the “common goal of developing the men and women of tomorrow”.

“Indeed, the children we raise today are the face of our future, and the success of a society hinges upon the education of its children,” he noted.

The television show, Davis later told the Sunday Observer, will be one hour long and will include recorded material from CXC workshops sponsored by the newspaper. He added that the newspaper company is also examining the possibility of making the programme available to the public on cassette and DVD.

In underscoring the Observer’s commitment to education, Khoury said he was encouraged by the fact that the company’s Study Centre – which features GSAT and CXC lessons, and 10 CXC study texts – is now appearing on the official booklist of several schools.

More than 25 teachers from 15 schools were presented with awards for having the highest volume of Study Centre sales in the western region during the two-hour-long function last Thursday. Khoury hailed teachers for their invaluable contribution to the publication’s success, and for making it the best of its kind in Jamaica, even as he noted the importance of volunteer educators to the project.

“The Jamaica Observer Study Centre has come a far way since its inception, and it is the willingness of you the educators that has allowed it to reach where it is today,” he said. “We are working closely with the Ministry of Education to ensure that lessons are in keeping with the school curriculum, and to make use of the feedback that you provide.”

Several school principals have commended the Jamaica Observer for its intention to launch the television series.

“It is an excellent idea, and we will have to sensitise the students to participate,” said principal of Rusea’s High School, June Thompson.

“If it is shown during school time then we will have the students access it from the library. But anything to enhance learning is a welcome idea,” she said.

Principal of Grange Hill High School, Alton Ruddock, in giving the proposal his blessing, said he was looking forward to a programme that would “grab the students’ attention”.

“The lesson must be so presented that students gravitate towards that type of programme,” said Ruddock.

Among those institutions that received awards were:

. Wakefield Primary and Holland High School in Trelawny;

. Corinaldi and Barracks Road primary schools, St James High school in St James;

. Bethel Primary and Junior High in Hanover and Rusea’s High School;

. Unity Primary School and the Mannings School in Westmoreland; as well as

. Black River High School and Santa Cruz Primary and Junior High in St Elizabeth.