It’s the kind of news that could easily get lost in the flurry of activities associated with the political silly season. However, it has not escaped our attention that MegaMart has achieved the distinction of becoming the first company to sign on to the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning’s (JFLL) Workplace Secondary (School) Training programme.

Under the programme, the JFLL will prepare employees of MegaMart to sit English Language and Mathematics at the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) level.

According to the JFLL, the programme is designed to extend secondary education services to persons 15 years and older in order to establish a culture of lifelong learning to empower individuals and contribute to national development.

It is highly commendable of MegaMart to have engaged the JFLL’s Workplace Education Unit to co-ordinate the delivery of the programme to 13 members of the company’s staff. The company should also be commended for deciding to pay 60 per cent of the cost of the programme for its employees, thus easing a part of the burden of the fees on the workers.

The move sends a strong signal that MegaMart’s owner, Mr Gassan Azan, is committed to investing in the academic and professional development of his employees. It also suggests an awareness, on his part, that a more educated and qualified workforce holds tremendous advantages for the business community.

In fact, Mr Colin Neita, the public relations and marketing manager for the JFLL, alluded to that fact when he was quoted in this week’s Sunday Observer as saying that the staff members on the programme “will be facilitated, encouraged and motivated in an environment that builds self-confidence, affirms the competencies these employees already have, and enriches the critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and innovative skills”.

We recall that at the launch of the partnership more than two weeks ago, Dr Alison Cross, the executive director of the JFLL who is regarded as one of the country’s best new generation educators, said it fit well with the foundation’s mission to support the first national goal of the country’s Vision 2030 — that of empowering Jamaicans to achieve their fullest potential.

This, Dr Cross quite rightly emphasised, can only be accomplished through education which, we hold, benefits not only individuals, but businesses and governments as well. For it can be successfully argued that better educated workers are more productive. They also allow for increased efficiency in the use of human resources, giving businesses the economic advantage of low supervisory expenses.

Just as important is the fact that businesses with better educated workers find that they benefit from fresher and wider perspectives on technological developments as well as its social and economic consequences.

So, as Mr Neita correctly concluded in relation to the JFLL/MegaMart arrangement: “This is truly a win-win partnership” because one of the JFLL’s goals is to increase workplace productivity.

By undertaking this initiative, MegaMart has set a shining example that is worth emulating in the business community. Their doing so can only redound to Jamaica’s benefit.