Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations held on the second monday in March. The day was formerly known as Empire day and was celebrated on the birthday of the longest reigning British Monarch, Queen Victoria. In Britain, Empire day was celebrated by lighting fireworks and attending various community festivities and was seen as a time where the Queen’s people showed their pride in being a part of the British Empire.

With the herald of the post-colonial era in 1958, Empire day was renamed Commonwealth day and since then has been celebrated throughout the world by countries that once made up the British Empire. On the year before the quadrennial, the Queen starts the Baton Relay on Commonwealth Day at Buckingham Palace, handing the baton to the first relay runner to start a journey that will end at the Opening Ceremony of the upcoming Games this summer.

The Commonwealth Youth Ambassadors Programme of the National Centre for Youth Development, an agency of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture has taken on the mantle of leading Jamaica’s celebration of Commonwealth Week between March 7-12, 2010, focusing on the theme: ‘Youth, Science and Technology’.

The Commonwealth Week of activities are youth oriented, geared towards putting into perspective the impact technology has on our nations’ youth in terms of relational and social issues challenging their lifestyle in a globalised and changing economy.

The Commonwealth week of activities commenced with a church service on Sunday at the St Andrew Parish Church. This was followed by an event dubbed Youth Explosion on Monday, March 8 at the Mavis Bank Comprehensive High School. The week concludes with a youth forum dubbed, ‘Youth in action, technology the fashion’ at the Central High school in Clarendon.