JAMAICA College principal Ruel Reid has called for a move away from the grammar-style education system inherited from the British nearly 50 years ago, urging instead the adoption of a technical educational system to advance Jamaica.

The educator said countries whose economies have made the greatest improvement in the last few years are those that have education systems with emphasis on technical and vocational skills training.

Reid, who is also an advisor to minister of education, noted that the British-based education system was suited to the plantation economy, and blames it for the country’s poor economic performance.

“For far too long we have been ill-advised that technical and vocational education is inferior, like a bastard child. Yet, all industrialised economies have had to rely on this type of education for their advancement. In short, the British grammar-style education that we adopted was for the elite and not workforce development. That is why we have a largely untrained and unskilled labour force because we did not see the need to train and certify everyone,” Reid said.

He made the comments at the National Council on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (NCTVET) Quality Awards 2010 at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew on Tuesday.

Reid went further in calling for the current syllabus-driven Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams to be reformed in favour of the system that exists in several developed countries. He said Jamaica should do this even without the help of other territories in the Caribbean Community (Caricom).

“We need to revamp the current syllabus-driven CXC examination system. If we can’t get consensus with our other Caricom partners, Jamaica may well leave CXC and go it on our own,” he said.

According to Reid, successful economies, such as the United States, Singapore, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, and China were facilitated by workforce development led by technical education.

“Employers really want workers with knowledge and skills; not just knowledge. Indeed, the new age requires adaptable workers who can multi-task,” he added.

The all-boy school principal also expressed support for the establishment of the Tertiary Education Commission, which he said will “level the playing field and give better value and recognition for technical and vocational education”.

Cabinet gave approval for the establishment of the Tertiary Education Commission last January. Minister with responsibility for Information Daryl Vaz said then that the commission will perform regulatory, developmental and planning functions for the sector.

He said the lack of any single regulatory authority to provide oversight and governance of the sector had led to its unbridled and fragmented growth.

Reid also commended efforts to expand secondary education to age 18 through the introduction of the Career Advancement Programme in a number of schools.

He also commended the University of the West Indies and the University of Technology for offering higher-level training in technical and vocational education, in keeping with the new global imperative.

Reid also challenged technical and vocational education programmes to rethink their mission and rebuild their image by making career and technical education a realistic option for students to achieve academic success, which will translate into employment.

“Traditional vocational programmes provided students with job-specific skills that many parents viewed as too narrow for their children. The trend is for career and technical education programmes to rethink their mission by asking how they can prepare students with high-level academic skills and the broad-based transferable and technical skills required for participation in the new economy,” he said.

In her remarks, executive director of HEART-NTA Dr Carolyn Hayle said the work of the NCTVET is the essence of the Jamaica’s competitive advantage and international trade.