Joey Issa Posits: Time to Give Education New Meaning, Emphasis

Award-winning academic Joey Issa, has posited in an interview that it is timely for the mantra of some schools to be changed from “Education for Work” to “Education for Economic and Social Independence” in recognition of the latter as the ultimate desirable outcome after leaving school.

 

“The ever-changing dynamics of Jamaican society particularly the youth, which forms half of the population and most of the unemployed, means that we have to start changing in order to counteract negative impacts and take advantage of opportunities presented,” says Issa, who is the founder of the Cool Group of companies and a civic leader in St. Ann where he is located.

 

Issa was commenting on the latest statistics which show that in three out of every four schools on the island, less than half of their students pass five subjects with English and/or Mathematics, which is the entry requirement for a decent first job or higher education.

 

He stated that “for most school children in Jamaica the dream can no longer be passing subjects, but achieving economic and social independence,” noting that “this has implications for increased opportunities in value-added manufacturing using locally available resources in the agriculture, livestock and fishing industries, with significant benefits to communities and the economy.”

 

According to him, “education is for life, but not necessarily life behind a desk or in a lecture room, both of which most of our school leavers are deemed unable to handle anyway. So why not settle for what they are good at and from early, let them do it proudly and teach them how to monetize it,” adding, “and please teachers don’t treat them as rejects that are being given a second chance. On the contrary, they have the opportunity to be among Jamaica’s most productive workers and energize the economy. ”

Citing, for example, 21 secondary schools in which nearly all their grade 11 students (96%) did not pass the magic five subjects with English and or Mathematics, he says, “That’s a lot of young people being put out on the streets, instead of on the land where they would have been taught to use available resources to give them economic independence.”

Noting that in 121 of 161 secondary schools less that 50 percent of the children make it, Issa suggests that “perhaps the time has come to change the way we view education, by setting limits to the current emphasis on ‘education for work’ in some schools and begin to embrace ‘education for economic independence’, which can be more easily achieved through the use of agriculture, livestock and fishing resources.”

 

Stating it is not a retrograde step to go back to basics, Issa argues “it’s what you do when something doesn’t work and you have to try another. Moreover, the agriculture which the youth shunned is far from today’s modern, value-added notion of the sector, with the potential to reverse the exodus and come back into the limelight as a trendy and profitable activity to be associated with, even by field workers.”

 

The figures show Issa’s alma mater, Campion College being edged out of first place by Immaculate Conception High School as the top performer among the nation’s 161 secondary schools, in the percentage of their students passing the magic five subjects with English and/or Mathematics. Immaculate left no room for failure, but Campion did with 99.5 percent.