KINGSTON, Jamaica – Parents are being charged to play an active role in their children’s literacy development.

Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, made the call while addressing Read Across Jamaica Day activities at Seaward Primary and Infant School in St Andrew on May 6.

“The development of the literacy skill is not only the responsibility of the teacher, who oftentimes, is the person on whom the burden is placed,” he noted.

“Literacy really begins at home with the parents. It is the parents transmitting the importance of accessing and gaining knowledge, developing this curiosity in their children, and encouraging the curiosity for knowledge and then putting in place all the mechanisms necessary for the child to develop this important skill of reading,” he pointed out.

The prime minister argued that having strong literacy skills, including media literacy, enables children to critically engage with information and make informed choices.

He said parents and schools must ensure that “our Jamaicans are media literate and are able to manage and maneuvre this very complex world of information that is being thrown at us through our screens, television, on radio so, that we can make sense of the information that is there”.

“This is not a time for us to shut out or withdraw from this ever-changing world; this is now the time when we must develop the skills so that we can embrace technology,” he emphasised.

Read Across Jamaica Day aims to encourage students to develop a healthy habit for reading.

The prime minister noted that literacy is important for the development of any society, adding that it is the process by which young ones develop the skills to access knowledge.

During his visit to Seaward Primary and Infant School, Holness engaged with students and read the two books ‘I am a Promise’, by Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce; and ‘Teddy and the Plastic Bottle’, published by the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

He also officially opened the institution’s technology room.

–          JIS