GORE Developments Limited on February 29 handed over a million-dollar lifeline to the Mico University College’s annual Math and Science Teachers’ Conference slated for March 19 and 20.

“Education is the future of Jamaica, and this is the beginning of a long-term relationship with Mico,” Phillip Gore said, following the donation which follows the institution’s appeal for corporate Jamaica to get involved with funding the event.

It was in early February that the Observer broke the news that the Mico was struggling to put on the conference in the face of limited corporate sponsorship.

“Listen, this is not a sexy subject. Yet math and science are fundamental to our growth and development in Jamaica,” said Dr Albert Benjamin, head of Natural Science at the Mico and conference chair, in a release to the media this past week.

“The Observer was gracious enough to carry our concerns, and with the response from Gore Developments, we received a tremendous boost. The sponsorship from Mr Gore gave us the confidence that allowed us to move into action and pay for what we needed to pay for. The Gore cheque was a game-changer,” he added.

According to Benjamin, the conference aims to give teachers tools to make math and science more relevant to students, by teaching in such a way that the students can immediately see how math and science benefit them.

“We have a serious problem. At the fifth-form level, 85 per cent of cohort did not do physics, chemistry or biology. And as for math now, more than 60 per cent of students over the last five years failed to receive grades one to three. Our students are failing math,” Benjamin said.

“Why is this serious? We term it a lack of mental technology. I use this term to describe the process by which persons are educated to be viable economic contributors to society and develop meaningful careers. Personal decisions, such as retirement planning, reading a light bill, reading a water bill are life challenges that are mathematically based. Bigger issues at the societal level, such as our energy habits, are related to math and science understanding. Without science and math, students cannot attack complex issues as they mature. And so the support from Gore for this conference is timely to the building of important skill sets of Jamaican youths,” he said further.

Gore Developments has committed to the development of education in Jamaica, with numeracy- and literacy-building programmes having received keen attention from the company.

Over the 2011 calendar year, Gore has, among other things, funded two major University of Technology scholarships in architecture and construction management; refurbished a block of classrooms at Jamaica College and partnered with Usain Bolt to refresh the William Knibb High School dining hall.