Minister: Education must become a core value

Wed, Sep 24th 2014, 11:16 AM

Education must move from a priority to a core value, where everything begins and ends with education; the future of the country depends on the state of education, according to Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald.
"The more our students succeed, the more our country will succeed" said Fitzgerald, as he addressed the Ernest T. Strachan Advanced Toastmasters Club 7108 recently. He spoke to the club about a new year and a new dawn in education.
Fitzgerald said that too often the negative overshadows the positive; he highlighted successful initiatives that were undertaken within the past year. The Ministry of Education, through its special services section, embarked on an initiative to screen every first grade child entering the public school as a part of its intervention strategy. The minister spoke about the upgrade of technology in public schools ensuring that all schools were outfitted with Internet connectivity, adequate computers, whiteboards and the necessary training needed to integrate technology into the classrooms. He also spoke to the conversion of the former Our Lady's School into a special needs school.
The education minister also spoke to the club members on the Bi-Partisan Educational Committee that will create a "shared vision for education 2030", which will be the blueprint for educational policy for the next 15 years, as he said there must be a policy position to advance education devoid of political interference.
In an attempt to bring balance to the curriculum offering, Fitzgerald also said that there were very little options and opportunities for those students who were not academically inclined to succeed. He said the key objective was to put a greater emphasis on the 50 percent of students performing below grade level.
He said improving students at the bottom of the academic pole will undoubtedly have positive effects on the country, because, as the level of education improves, so will the social conditions. Fitzgerald said research reveals that approximately 50 percent of 12th grade students leaving school each year do not meet the graduation requirements.
Fitzgerald also shared the strategies that have been devised to mitigate the continuance of trend, including the introduction of the National High School Diploma (NHSD) Program; he said that for the first time in more than a decade, a standard for the NHSD had been agreed upon. The criteria to obtain the NHSD includes attaining four Bahamas Junior Certificates (BJC), inclusive of mathematics, English language, a science and a social science by the end of ninth grade; complete a minimum of 27 credit hours between 10th and 12th grades; maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 over the three years; complete 30 hours of community service; complete 20 hours of job readiness training and maintain 90 percent or higher attendance and punctuality over grades 10, 11 and 12.
The education minister said that the criteria for the NHSD program were selected by a team of senior ministry officials who traveled to Finland and Canada and who will be traveling to Singapore before the end of the year to glean best practices from countries that have well-established and effective NHSD programs. This year's 10th grade students will pilot the program and will be the first to graduate with an NHSD in 2017.

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