A NEW phase of the Values and Attitudes Programme is to be officially launched by February next year.
Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman, said that the new thrust would focus public attention on how every Jamaican can help build a better Jamaica.
He was addressing journalists on Tuesday at the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.
Minister Whiteman said that the new phase would include order in the society, less coarseness and crudeness, discipline among citizens, respect for each other, respect for life and good manners displayed throughout the country.
The Information Minister said, however, that the programme would continue in two dimensions. The institutional development aspect of the programme, which promotes customer service charters and insist on a values and attitudes culture in schools would continue, he added.
The other dimensions involve the individual behavioural response component, in which individuals and the broader society are targeted with a view to changing mindset, nurturing a sense of self, reinforcing wholesome values and positive attitudes.
Mr. Whiteman said that over the past seven weeks, consultations have been held with a wide range of interested persons who represent several organisations. He said that this would conclude in early January, when the National Steering Committee will be constituted.
The Values and Attitudes Programme was launched by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson with the aim of promoting social renewal and better values and attitudes in the country.
The programme was also instituted to halt indiscipline, incivility and violence, and return the society to one where social values and attitudes prevailed.
It was aimed at addressing the serious deterioration in the relationships, hostility and coarseness with which business was conducted, and the disregard for human life, evidenced by the high levels of crime and violence, especially murders.
