PRIME Minister Andrew Holness said Monday that Jamaica’s education system is in need of a radical transformation, one that focuses heavily on science, engineering and mathematics.

As part of this push, Holness said there will be an investment in building six new science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) schools that will not be operated under the Education Act. A new scheme of management, Holness said, will have to be developed as it is a national priority.

“We must generate every year, to our markets and industries, the skills needed to take up the jobs that will come in the next 20 and 30 years,” Holness said as he addressed a full auditorium of Jamaica College students and staff at the institution in St Andrew on Monday during a tour, marking the start of the new school year.

The prime minister pointed out that Jamaica’s future “has always been and will continue to be dependent on the quality of human resources that we produce.

“As we approach full employment, the marginal quality of skills that are being made available to the market becomes even more important for expansion and growth. What we need to be providing to the market from the education system are students trained in science, engineering and mathematics,” Holness said, noting that Jamaica has moved from 13, 14 and 15 per cent unemployment rates down to five per cent and has further to go.

He appealed to parents not to place in the minds of their children a psychological fear of mathematics and technical subjects.

“Encourage them. It is the way of the world. If Jamaica is to move from a low-wage, low-productivity, low-growth economy into a high-wage, high-growth and high-productivity economy, investing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics is critical. Encourage your children in that path. It is not exclusion of their natural creativity in other areas, but it is important that they are able to negotiate the world in which they live.

“Essentially parents, the world that we will inhabit will be led by people who create technology and innovate. It is those who create the value that will have the wealth. Those who are constantly consuming it will be one step just above poverty. If you want your household and country to raise its level of production and break the cycle of poverty then we must become the creators of technology. To become the creators of technology, your children must embrace science technology, engineering and mathematics,” Holness said.

He said that Government must also start to focus on making greater investments in improving the quality of life of students and their parents. One area he singled out as being particularly in need of improving is the transportation sector.

Holness cited the recent handover over of 100 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses to the Jamaica Urban Transit Company as a move in the right direction to delivering high-quality transportation.

“We must now focus on addressing the pain points that you as parents and students experience in your everyday life. One area that the Government will be focusing on heavily is on reducing the cost of living. One area of cost of living that affects you is the cost of public transportation. Not just the cost of public transportation, but the quality of public transportation, the reliability, the cleanliness, the availability of seats, the maintenance of a schedule.

“A mother pointed out to me this morning that when she cannot get the public bus, she has to pay a taxi and when she would normally pay $150 the taxi man told her that he wants $200 and she must come out of the taxi. Happily, today she was able to get on the bus. When I asked her how much she is paying on the bus now, her daughter is four years old, and [on] her first day of school, she pays nothing for her daughter. You see the impact of having more buses on the cost to her. It is things like this the Government is focusing on.

“We can do it in a way, as well, where the buses run on time, where the buses are clean and safe. There are 13 cameras on each of these new buses so we can definitely monitor what is happening on the buses. The buses are geo-tracked and will be connected to an app, so you can look at an app when it is launched. We are really trying to improve the quality of the service and that will be a tangible way in which the Government would take the benefits of the good fiscal management of the economy and translate it into tangible benefits that improve your quality of life, the service that you get, reduce the pain point of public transpoprtation and reduce the cost of living to you,” Holness said.

Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Daryl Vaz, who rode on one of the new buses to Jamaica College, reinforced the PM’s sentiment that the students have access to safer transportation.

“I had a lovely bus ride from the Half-Way-Tree Transportation Centre all the way to Papine and then here on the new CNG bus and I can tell all of you here who will be using the 900 route, that you can look forward to safe, comfortable and efficient travel. This morning we rolled out 270 buses and for the first time in recent history, the JamaicaUrban Transit Company (JUTC) rolled out more new buses than old buses. That is a sign of things to come. By next year this time, you will have another 100 CNG buses on the road.

“Most importantly, no borrowing, no begging. All paid for by tax payers who are now getting a return of their investments after many, many years. All I can say is, take care of the buses and enjoy them because it is the sweat of every single Jamaican over the many years and decades and the good management of the Government that is allowing us to be able to do this on this scale. The cost of those 100 buses is over $3 billion. It is a lot of money, but well worth the investment,” Vaz said.