Bartlett bats for education as dismal results in grade four literacy and numeracy continue
MONTEGO BAY, St James — Another dismal performance in the Ministry of Education’s numeracy and literacy tests by Grade Four students in Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett’s East Central St James constituency, is behind the Member of Parliament’s decision to spend $1.2 million on the relevant work books.
Stressing that education is as much a part of the solution to Montego Bay’s crime problem’s a job creation and social intervention programmes, Bartett said:
“The answer to the problems we are having in Montego Bay in terms of crime (also) lies in the removal of the scourge of ignorance from the communities of Montego Bay because education gives you power to reason…to build and sustain relationships and more importantly to resolve conflicts through reason, rather than violence”.
The majority of the 240 homicides which rocked St James last year were committed in some of Montego Bay’s tough inner-city communities. Meanwhile, up to the 22nd of this month, the police reported 132 murders, nine less than the corresponding period last year.
Speaking on Tuesday at the Wexford Hotel, during the annual East Central St James Education Council scholarships awards, which he initiated in his constituency 17 years ago, Bartlett noted that building human capital was priority.
“If we are able to build the human capital, and to create knowledge base and to expand our horizon of understanding, then we will be able to build a better community and we will be able to solve that wider problem of crime and violence which is plaguing Montego Bay,” he said. Bartlett also praised sponsors who patronised the annual fund raising dinner, the proceeds from which were added to money from his CDF, which pushed the total of this year’s scholarship to $5million, representing a record high.
Teachers were among the tertiary students receiving scholarship checks of up to $100,000 on Tuesday.
The East Central St James Education Council, will also be presenting school uniforms, shoes, books as well as other back-to-school supplies to over 3,000 students from the constituency.
