Education vital for Vision 2020

EDUCATION is a vital component of Govern-ment’s Vision 2020, according to Minister of Public Utilities and Environment Pennelope Beckles, who underscored the point when she addressed the annual People’s National Move-ment (PNM) National Youth League Confer-ence at the Centre Pointe Mall, Chaguanas yesterday “Our Government has decided to invest in the country’s human capital by focusing on educating the citizens by making tertiary education free for all,” Beckles told the gathering, adding that there are six major educational goals the Government is pursuing to fully develop the nation’s educational human resource.

One goal, she said, is the upgrading and expanding of facilities from the pre-school to secondary levels. “This will be done through erecting 51 schools at varying levels and repairing and refurbishment of 101 secondary schools. The im-provement in the quality of education being offered throughout the system which is scheduled to happen through the revision of the curriculum, computerisation of schools and the modernisation of school libraries,” Beckles said. The Minister added that Government is promoting skills development through different programmes like the On The Job Training (OJT). “These programmes are geared towards giving individuals experience within a particular field and to enable them to obtain a skill that they can use to market themselves at the end of the training stint in their respective course.”

The Minister said Government was trying to create a culture of lifelong learning for citizens through distance and adult education programmes, thereby encouraging them to pursue studies well into adulthood. Also attending yesterday’s conference were Community Develop-ment, Culture and Gender Affairs Minister Joan Yuille-Williams, assistant general secretary of the PNM Rosemarie Janniere amd former chairman of the PNM National Youth League Joel Primus. Executive elections were held to elect new PNM National Youth League executive members, with Deon Jeffers becoming the new chairman. Rondell Donawa is the newly elected vice-chairman. Minister Beckles said the PNM administration will be reforming child and family service programmes and will soon be introducing some new services to help poor families.