By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
MARK KERR-JARRETT, immediate past president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce, has blamed the "dilapidated condition of our education system" as one of the major contributors to the nation's high rate of HIV/AIDS.
Speaking on the weekend, during a function to open a wing at the Hope Hospice, the only institution that caters to the needs of sufferers of the deadly disease in western Jamaica, Mr. Kerr-Jarrett said the time has come for the nation to reassess it priorities, especially in terms of education.
"The lack of education leads to bad choices and that is one of the reasons why we have this massive AIDS problem," he stated.
He pointed out that children were graduating from the nation's schools as illiterates, enumerates and "basically unemployable". "This breeds hopelessness," Mr. Kerr-Jarrett said. "They in turn take out their anger and frustration on society with violence, anti-social behaviour and exploitation of the weaker sex, who in turn allow themselves to get pregnant as they believe it is the only way to get support."
He charged that it was not a lack of funds why the education system was in such poor state as "corruption, tax evasion, extortion and Government waste account for billions upon billions of dollars annually.
"I contend that it is a lack of priority and not a lack of money."
He suggested regulating the basic school system in accordance with international standards, implementing a daily feeding programme in basic schools, not allowing student to graduate without mastering reading, writing and mathematics and reducing the teacher/student ration to 1:25.
